Exhibit 99.6

M E D I O B A N C A

Annual Accounts and Report

as at 30 June 2024

M E D I O B A N C A

LIMITED COMPANY

SHARE CAPITAL €444,515,142.5

HEAD OFFICE: PIAZZETTA ENRICO CUCCIA 1, MILAN, ITALY

REGISTERED AS A BANK.

PARENT COMPANY OF THE MEDIOBANCA BANKING GROUP.

REGISTERED AS A BANKING GROUP

Financial Statements

Mediobanca Group

30 June 2024

Mediobanca S.p.A. 

Registered Office: Piazzetta Enrico Cuccia, 1 - Milan, Italy

Tel. +39 02 88291 – Fax +39 02 8829.550 

Enrolled in the Bank of Italy Register of Banks as No. 4753

Parent Company of Mediobanca Banking Group 

Enrolled in the Register of Banking Groups with ABI code No. 10631.0

http://www.mediobanca.com;

Tax identification number and Milan-Monza-Brianza-Lodi Companies’

Register Enrolment No. 00714490158

VAT No. 10536040966

Fully paid-up share capital: €444,515,142.5

Member of the Interbank Deposit Guarantee Fund and the National Guarantee

Fund Ordinary shares listed on MTA Market

This document, in PDF format, does not constitute the fulfilment of the obligations laid down in Directive 2004/109/EC (“Transparency Directive”) and in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815 (“ESEF Regulation” – European Single Electronic Format) for which a special XHTML format has been developed.

www.mediobanca.com

translation from the Italian original which remains the definitive version

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STATUTORY AUDIT COMMITTEE

* * *

CONTENTS

* * *

* * *

Other documents

CONSOLIDATED

ACCOUNTS

MEDIOBANCA GROUP REVIEW

OF OPERATIONS

AS AT 30 JUNE 2024

REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

The Mediobanca Group delivered a net profit of €1,273.4m in the twelve months ended 30 June 2024, an increase of 24.1%, laying solid foundations for delivering on the objectives contained in the 2023-26 Strategic Plan “One Brand-One Culture” (EPS in particular rose to 1.53, up 27% YoY). The increase in revenues, which were up 9.2%, to €3,606.8m, was driven by growth in fee income (up 11.5%, to €939.4m) and net interest income (up 10.2%, to €1,984.8m). The cost/income ratio was under control at 42.8%, and the cost of risk low, at 48 bps (down 4 bps YoY), both of which helped to consolidate the gross operating profit at a total of €1,812.5m (up 11.9% YoY; up 13% QoQ), with all earnings indicators increasing accordingly (ROTE 13.9%, RORWA 2.7%)^(*).

The widespread improvement was delivered on the back of a strong commercial performance: results in Wealth Management were boosted by strong flows in terms of NNM (€8.4bn), virtually all of which in AUM/AUA, which increased from €59.8bn to €71.5bn,⁽¹⁾ helped by the strong inflows in 2H in particular which totalled €4.5bn (€1.5bn of which were AUM); deposits were basically flat, with the conversions to AUM being offset by healthy flows from liquidity events totalling approx. €1bn (from thirty deals), plus a promotional campaign which in 4Q generated over €1.5bn in new deposits. In Investment Banking, a trend towards growing activity levels consolidated in 4Q, with numerous deals in sectors considered to be strategic (such as Digital, Energy Transition and Mid Corporate) being closed, generating strong flows in terms of fee income (approx. €100m). Growth in Consumer Finance was again solid in terms of volumes (new loans totalled €8.4bn, €3bn of which direct personal loans), and the loan book’s profitability also improved (the ROA increased to 8.36%). Funding activity also saw record volumes of issuance which totalled €8.2bn (with the cost of funding falling to 129 bps).

In view of the above results, the Board of Directors has approved a resolution to submit the following proposal to shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting:

Consolidated revenues climbed from €3,303.4m to €3,606.8m (up 9.2% YoY), with €978.6m added in 4Q alone (up 9% QoQ). The main income items performed as follows:

Operating costs totalled €1,542.2m (up 9.1% YoY, up 7.6% QoQ), with labour costs accounting for €804.5m (up 10.5% YoY, up 6.3% QoQ) and administrative expenses for €737.7m (up 7.7% YoY, up 9.1% QoQ). The strong growth in headcount, with 216 staff recruited (FTEs up from 5,227 to 5,443), plus the effects of the national collective contract renewal, are reflected in the higher fixed remuneration component (up 12% YoY), compounded by an increase in the variable component (up 8% YoY), reflecting, in Corporate and Investment Banking in particular (up 15% YoY), the recovery in activity levels. The trend in administrative expenses, as in 3Q before, is attributable to IT spending (up 10.8%, from €276m to €306m), including a strong project component (up 25%, to €68m) linked to initiatives both at Group level (technology resilience plan, migration to cloud-based solutions, development of ESG platform) and the individual divisions (WM: mobile collaboration, digitalized reporting, enhancement of core systems; CF: Pagolight platforms, customer experience improvement, multi-channel approach; CIB: BTP specialist platform). There were also increases in travel and entertainment expenses, and in marketing costs (up 8%), in Wealth Management particularly (up 18%) in support of the CheBanca! rebranding. At the individual divisional level: total costs in Wealth Management amounted to €613.5m (up 10.5% YoY; up 1.1% QoQ); in Corporate and Investment Banking to €379.9m (up 16.1% YoY; up 19.4% QoQ), with Arma Partners contributing €25.5m (up 9% YoY like-for-like, i.e. net of Arma Partners); in Consumer Finance to €369.5m (up 6.4% YoY; stable QoQ); the Holding Functions’ performance, meanwhile, reflects the disposal of Revalea, with costs totalling €192.3m (up 11% YoY without Revalea).

Loan loss provisions decreased by 6.7% to €252.1m, entailing a cost of risk of 48 bps (down 4 bps YoY). Corporate and Investment Banking posted net writebacks of €10.6m, compared with €32.3m in writedowns last year. The higher provisioning in Consumer Finance (up from €203.9m to €249.7m) reflects both a modest increase in default and non-payment rates (which are now effectively realigned to pre-Covid levels), plus the growth in direct personal loans, which have higher profitability and cost of risk; against this backdrop, the CoR rose from 145 bps to 168 bps. The Holding Functions’ contribution (which, since Revalea was sold, consists of leasing operations only) decreased to €5.6m, while provisioning in Wealth Management totalled €7.4m, €6.7m of which in mortgage lending. The stock of overlays totalled €221.6m (30/6/23: €268m), with the uses made during the twelve months reflecting the fine-tuning of the ECL risk parameters in Consumer Finance, plus the reduced impact of inflation in the Corporate model.

Net provisions for banking book securities and other financial assets totalled €3.4m, plus upward adjustments to reflect the Fair Value of holdings in investment funds included in the banking book, which totalled €17.3m.

The bottom-line result was also impacted by non-recurring other losses totalling €90.2m (€185.8m) due to:

* * *

On the balance-sheet side, total assets rose from €91.6bn to €99.2bn, mostly due to the increase in treasury management activity matched by short-term liabilities, with the main items reflecting the following trends:

Total Financial Assets (TFAs) reached €99.4bn (up 12.9% YoY; up 1.2% QoQ), on new AUM/AUA of €8.6bn, plus a positive market performance adding €3.2bn (virtually nil in 4Q). The stock of AUM/AUA totalled €71.5bn (up 19.5% YoY and up 1% QoQ), split between Private Banking (€33.8bn, up 22.7% YoY; up 1.4% QoQ) Premier Banking (€24.9bn, up 21.2% YoY; up 4.4% QoQ), and Asset Management (€28.2bn, up 9% YoY, €15.5bn of which placed by the Group’s networks). The stock of deposits, as mentioned earlier, remains close to last year’s levels (€27.9bn), split between Mediobanca Premier (€16.9bn), Mediobanca Private Banking (€5.9bn), and CMB Monaco (€5.1bn).

The capital ratios (CET1: 15.2%;⁽⁶⁾ Total Capital: 17.7%) confirm a Maximum Distributable Amount (MDA) buffer⁽⁷⁾ of approx. 510 bps, against an Overall Capital Requirement⁽⁸⁾ of 8.25% The approx. 70 bps reduction in the CET1 ratio primarily reflects the acquisition of Arma Partners, which accounted for 55 bps (this will reduce in the future, due to the use of treasury shares to complete the

acquisition); the organic growth in earnings in the twelve months, which added 350 bps, was helped by the lower RWAs (down approx. 7.4%) due to the reduction in lendings and to the risk mitigation measures implemented (including 15 bps in relation to the Significative Risk Transfer securitization of Consumer Finance receivables), but was offset in full, as expected, by the prudential deductions for the Assicurazioni Generali investment (which accounted for 60 bps) and by the shareholder remuneration (305 bps, including the interim dividend paid in May 2024, the first share buyback completed with the cancellation of 17 million shares, and the two proposals to be submitted to the approval of shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, for the balance due on the dividend and the new buyback tranche for a total of €385m⁽⁹⁾ ).

RWAs at Group level decreased from €51.4bn to €47.6bn (down 7.4% YoY), with the share attributable to CIB totalling €14.9bn (down 23.5% YoY) and that of Consumer Finance amounting to €14.5bn. The Group’s RWA density decreased from 56.1% to 48%, while the ratio for CIB decreased from 60.8% to 38.1%, and that for Consumer Finance fell from 88.1% to 89.8%. The share of RWAs attributable to loans and advances amounted to 85.7% (€40.8bn), while the market share was 3.5% (€1.7bn).

The Total Capital ratio declined to 17.7%: the increase due to the new €300m subordinated issue made in January 2024 was offset by the prudential repayment of the equivalent issues falling due shortly, and to the other deductions described in more detail above.

The leverage ratio reduced to 7.1%, significantly higher than the 3% minimum requirement; the MREL indicator too, i.e. 43.5% of RWAs and 20.3% of LREs, is comfortably above the minimum requirements set for 2024, which were 23.57% of RWAs and 5.91% of LREs.

* * *

The divisional performances for the twelve months were as follows:

* * *

Significant events in the twelve months include the completion of many of the extraordinary operations announced in May 2023 in connection with the launch of the new three-year Strategic Plan, as follows:

The following events should also be noted:

At the Annual General Meeting held on 28 October 2023, the shareholders of Mediobanca adopted several important resolutions in respect of various initiatives related to the 2023-26 Strategic Plan, in particular as follows:

* * *

In what has been an uncertain operating scenario due to geopolitical events and the macroeconomic trend which continues to change, with frequent climate

and social emergencies, the Mediobanca Group is even more committed to making sustainability the focus of its strategy, by pursuing a balance between economic growth, social well-being and protection of the environment.

This responsible approach to banking is reflected not only in the offering of solutions, products and advisory services offered to support clients in their transition to a sustainable economy, but also in the training and awareness-raising activities implemented to promote increased sensitivity to ESG topics both inside and outside the Group.

As proof of its commitment to achieving its sustainability objectives, the Group has renewed its membership of some of the most important international protocols, such as the UN Global Compact, the Principles for Responsible Banking, and the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

Participation in these initiatives, coupled with the integration of ESG criteria into all areas of the Group’s business, has contributed to the improvement in the Bank’s ESG rating, as assessed by: ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services), which has assigned Mediobanca its top score in all three ESG areas – Environmental, Social and Governance, and the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), which has improved its score from “C” to “B”, in recognition of Mediobanca’s commitment to addressing its impact on the environment.

The Group’s understanding of this impact has led it to strengthen its risk management in order to address the challenges deriving from climate change that could affect the growth of the business, and to support a balanced transition and adaptation process for both the Group and its clients.

All qualitative and quantitative ESG targets included in the Strategic Plan 2023-26 “One Brand-One Culture” are progressing in line with expectations, in particular as follows.

More than 84% of the Group’s staff have received training in ESG issues, with the objective being to reach 100% by end-June 2026, including 100% of Financial Advisors; while 65% of the Wealth Management advisors have received EFPA certification (with an objective of 100% by the end of the Plan time horizon).

More than ten million emails on environmental and financial education issues have already been sent to Compass clients, out of a target of 35 million by end-June 2026.

In connection with the Group’s priority objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, interim targets have been set for 2030 for all high-carbon intensity sectors, as per the commitment with the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). The actions taken to ensure climate-related aspects are more closely integrated into the company’s strategy have been described for the first time as part of the Group’s Transition Plan.

The Group is also committed to limiting the impact on the environment caused by its own footprint, including by improving waste management and prior assessment of the environmental impact of new processes, systems and equipment, and of structural and organizational changes.

On diversity and inclusion issues, there has been an increase in all the target indicators included in the Strategic Plan, including reduction in the gender gap, to be pursued by ensuring more women are in positions of leadership and guaranteeing equal access to promotion and career advancement opportunities. It should be emphasized that delivering on such challenging objectives has been possible because of the Group’s people, who are its most important resource: it is because of them that sustainability has been confirmed as one of our Group’s founding values.

In order to contribute to the well-being of the Group’s people, an organizational approach is promoted based on understanding, respecting and recognizing the value of all kinds of diversity, starting with gender. As recognition of the work we have done in this area, in December 2023 gender parity certification was obtained, in accordance with the UNI/PdR 125:2022 standard required by the NRRP.

In the Group’s efforts to achieve such challenging objectives, it does not want anyone to be left behind, or to neglect the needs of the communities of which it forms part. The inclusion of the more socially vulnerable categories and those at the greatest risk of exclusion, especially young people, is a major issue for the Bank, and its focus on the more vulnerable groups of society has also led, among other things, to Financial Health and Inclusion being identified as one of the priority areas of the Group Sustainability Policy. Social inclusion is also a priority in view of the communities in which the Group operates. To this end it has also renewed its partnership with UNHCR, to support the integrated protection programme for female refugees and asylum seekers who at risk of gender-based violence (GBV) in Italy.

In the area of inclusive education, the partnership with Fondazione Mission Bambini has been confirmed, with the objective of guaranteeing free access to services for fifteen children aged 0-3 years, and also the partnership with Junior

Achievement Italy, for a new programme, also run free of charge, known as “CONTA SUL FUTURO!” (Count on the Future), to provide financial education for middle-school students, with some of the Group’s staff volunteering in the classroom-based activities.

The Group has also supported the universally recognized values of sport, renewing and promoting the following projects:

* * *

Developments on capital markets

During the 2023-24 financial year, the global economy continued to grow at a moderate rate, against a backdrop of generally restrictive monetary policies (with the notable exception of Japan), and still high levels of geopolitical uncertainty due to the tensions in different regions (the Russia/Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian armed organizations) not usually affected by such wide-ranging armed conflict.

Signs that global growth is consolidating began to emerge in second half-year, helped by the process of friend-shoring Asian production activities (i.e. using production and sourcing centres in countries that can guarantee the safety of the process), the Chinese authorities gaining a firmer grip on the local economy’s performance, and a relaxing of the restrictive monetary policies adopted in various jurisdictions. In the second half-year, with the ongoing deflationary process and related trend in terms of prospects for the monetary authorities’ stances, the risk orientation on growth changed from negative to

balanced, but the growth is not seen as being uniform between the advanced nations: the US economy appears to be especially resilient, while growth in the European Union is weak, there has been a pronounced slowdown in Chines growth, and the Japanese economy is at the contraction phase.

Indeed, in the first half of the financial year, the average changes recorded in GDP were up 1% QoQ in the United States, up 1.5% in China, down 0.1% in the Eurozone, and down 0.5% in Japan.

In the western economies, the action taken by the central banks to dampen economic activity in order to bring inflation back closer to the economic policy target has begun to reveal its effects, cooling US growth and keeping growth in the Eurozone to modest levels.

In 3Q global growth stabilized at levels in line with the pre-Covid period at around 0.9% QoQ, with a reduction in the United States (to 0.3%), China and the Eurozone basically flat (at 1.6% and 0.3% respectively), and Japanese growth, which was already negative on average during the preceding six months, weakening still further (at minus 0.7%).

The production sector confidence indexes confirmed the trajectories outlined above for 4Q. In the second half-year, then, growth averaged 0.5% QoQ for the United States, 1.1% for China, 0.3% for the European Union, and 0.1% for Japan, with prospects for generally modest growth in the coming quarters.

The deflationary process involved all geographies but at different speeds and with different characteristics. Net of the energy and food components, inflation in the Eurozone began to decline roughly three months after the high recorded in the United States and much faster, because in recent years production processes have become less sensitive to tensions in the production chains, and demand is decidedly less strong than it is in the United States (having decreased from 5.5% YoY at the start of the financial year to 2.9% at end-June 2024 for the Eurozone, compared with a reduction from 4.7% to 3.3% for the same period for the United States).

Against this scenario, stock market prices were weak in the first quarter (MSCI World Index down 4.3%), until it became clear that the central banks were succeeding in their efforts to bring inflation back under control in an orderly manner without causing growth to slow excessively as a result (what the economists have been referring to as the “soft landing”). Starting from 2Q, rising global stock market prices led the indexes to record performances that overall were comparable to those of the previous year (MSCI World Index up 18.4% compared

with 15.2% in FY 2023-24). The Far Eastern markets as a whole have followed the trend of the global index, but the growth has been less expansive (MSCI Asia Pacific up 10.6%), and impacted by the Chinese component which has dampened the markets’ performances (MSCI China down 4.5%). The European index has reflected a similar trend, largely flat in the fourth quarter due to the economic slowdown caused by the weak international scenario.

The general level of government interest rates fluctuated considerably in the first half-year in both the United States and in Europe, on account of uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of the economic policy action on growth in these jurisdictions. The US 10Y government interest rate rose by 73 bps, from 3.84% to 4.57% in 1Q, before falling by 69 bps in 2Q and then beginning to reflect more stable growth in the second half-year, closing at 4.40%. A similar trend was reflected by the 10Y German yield which rose by 45 bps in 1Q (from 2.84%), before falling by 82 bps in 2Q (to 2.02%), and then ending the twelve months at 2.50% (for an overall increase of 11 bps YoY).

In the Chinese economy, which is struggling with the complex process of stabilization in the real estate sector and building confidence among households and companies, interest rates have generally reflected a declining trend throughout the whole twelve months, with a more pronounced change seen in 2Q. The 10Y benchmark rate fell from 2.64% to 2.20% in the year under review.

* * *

The European economy’s performance in the twelve months has been impacted by the strength of domestic demand fuelled by savings accumulated during the pandemic, the emergence of new production chains (“friend-shoring”), and the ongoing deflation process launched midway through the previous year. Towards the end of the twelve months, the results of the French Assemblée Nationale elections injected an element of political uncertainty, the first effects of which were projected onto the risk premium on the country’s sovereign debt and risk assets. The region’s growth has in any case been driven by the Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme, some of main problems in which have been borne out in the transition from project to implementation phases.

Price trends have been affected by adjustments on the production side that have facilitated reductions in the cost base. The most important point to note is the positive trend in wages, which, despite growing and being fuelled by the low unemployment levels, in the second half-year managed to dissipate fears that the purchasing power lost during the period of high inflation would be recovered in

full. As mentioned, the Eurozone Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) fell in the twelve months, from 5.5% to 2.5%. By contrast, the downward trend in underlying inflation suggests that inflation fell from 5.5% to 2.9%.

The growth in GDP reflected a weak contraction of 0.1% QoQ on average during 1H, and the 0.3% QoQ improvement in 2H referred to earlier The growth prospects for Europe in the immediate future continue to be closely linked to the economic consequences of the Russia/Ukraine conflict, as well as to the political developments in France and the trend in Chinese growth.

In this scenario, the ECB has chosen to stabilize the extent of its tightening policy, with the benchmark interest rate at 4%, and to reduce the stock of sovereign debt instruments acquired during the expansive phase of the process when interest rates were rising rapidly, at a rate of €7.5bn per month. In pursuing its monetary policy, the ECB has chosen to abandon the forward guidance (its commitment to pursue a policy conduct for an established period of time or until certain conditions have been met) in favour an approach based on the information obtained in the time between meetings, which, by its very nature, is reactive and flexible.

The modest level of economic growth, the declining inflation, the low unemployment levels and the positive stance on risk assets have led to the following results during the period:

* * *

It should also be noted that since the end of the financial year under review, more favourable market conditions have brought European credit assets, both government (non-French) and corporate, back to the levels seen prior to the emergence of the French political risk. For example, at end-August the spread on 10Y Italian paper had returned to the 130 bps and the Crossover index to the 290 bps area, i.e. the levels seen at the start of June.

* * *

The Italian economy reported a stabilization in growth during 1H, at unimpressive levels (the average growth rate for 6M was 0.26% QoQ), but still faster than the average QoQ growth reported during the previous financial year (0.11%). In 3Q, growth consolidated at a level higher than the potential growth (0.34% QoQ), and the guidance coming from business research suggests a similar level may be reached in 4Q as well. Growth has certainly been strengthened by the use, albeit still only partial, of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funds, by the stabilization in the growth of the nation’s trade partners (European especially), and a monetary policy that remains accommodative.

The prospects for growth in Italy remain strongly anchored to the trend in the demand for exports, and hence, indirectly, the trend in the economies of the various end-markets. Aspects of concern chiefly involve the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the tensions in the Middle East, and the short-term prospects for the structural reforms that China is undergoing. Key factors for short-term growth and long-term prospects are the implementation of the structural reforms on which the NRRP is conditional, and the realization of the public works that are supposed to flow from them.

On financial markets, the Italian stock indexes have outperformed the rest of the European markets. The trend in favour of risk assets in general, not just Italian and indeed not just European ones, has developed in tandem with the awareness signalled by the leading central banks that the tightening monetary policy phase which started last year is coming to an end, and that the deflationary

process is continuing. The FTSE MIB gained 7.5% in 1H (Eurostoxx 600 up 3.5%) and 9.2% in 2H (Eurostoxx 600 up 6.8%), resulting in a 17.4% increase for the twelve months as a whole (Eurostoxx 600 up 10.7%).

* * *

Regarding the Italian consumer credit market, the Assofin data updated for 1H 2024 confirms that the positive trend which began in 4Q 2023 has continued: new loans granted in the six months ended 30 June 2024 were up 4.9% on the same period last year, totalling €28.4bn.

Breaking the aggregate figure down by technical form, virtually all products posted in improvements in 2024 relative to 2023:

Source:  Assofin: for the car/motorbike segment, the figures refer to volumes generated by independent operators; while for credit cards, only volumes generated by pure credit cards and cards with instalment options are considered. For 2023 the Assofin adjusted figures published in May 2024 have been used.

* * *

With reference to mortgage loans, there has been a notable slowdown in commercial activity following the property market contraction and in view of the strong competitive pressure; indeed, in the twelve months under review a total of 8,634 mortgages were executed with total finance of €1,100.6m disbursed, compared to 15,372 mortgages worth €2,244.7m the previous year. The share of “green” mortgages (i.e. financed disbursed for the acquisition or renovation of Class A or B properties) remained virtually unchanged, at 13%.

The residential property sector, after several years of uninterrupted growth, posted a 9.6% reduction in 2023, from 785 million transactions the previous year to 710,000. In the same period, the mortgage market for households to acquire properties was affected by both the slowdown in the property market itself and by the rise in interest rates, and so reflected a pronounced reduction of 25.4%, from €55.3bn to €41.2bn.

The downward trend continued into 1Q 2024, during which property sales declined by more than 7% and new mortgage loans by 17%.

* * *

In 2023, approximately €34.8bn in new leases were granted, with almost 763,000 contracts executed; the growth versus 2022 was 8.8% in value terms, and 13% in the number of contracts. In the first six months of 2024, 390,000 new contracts were executed worth €17.2bn; compared to 1H 2023, this represents a reduction of 4.7% in value terms and of 5.4% in number.

Source: Dataforce data compiled by Assilea.

Consolidated profit-and-loss/balance-sheet data

The consolidated profit and loss account and balance sheet have been restated – including by business area – based on the structure that provides the most accurate reflection of the Group’s operations.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

(€m)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ^(*) 

(€m)

CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

(€m)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ^(*) 

EARNINGS/BALANCE-SHEET DATA BY DIVISION ^(*) 

(€m)

Notes:

(€m)

Balance sheet

The Group’s total assets rose from €91.6bn to €99.2bn, the substantial increase being mostly due to significant growth in trading activity, which involved increases in equity and bond trading, most of which was refinanced by short-term liabilities; the parent company’s contribution was 57.1%; the main balance-sheet headings show the following trends for the twelve months (comparative data as at 30 June 2023):

Funding – funding totalled €63.7bn, significantly higher than last year (30/6/23: €60.5bn), due to an ambitious and diversified funding strategy which involved intensive primary market activity, with new issuance of €8.2bn, including the first SRT (Significant Risk Transfer) securitization of Compass receivables, plus approx. €2.2bn in securities placed via proprietary and third-party networks. The cost of the new issues was lower than last year, at 129 bps (vs 147 bps), with an interest rate payable of 2.41%. Thus the stock of debt securities rose from €22.3bn to €27.6bn, absorbing the expected reduction in the T-LTRO share (down €4.3bn, from €5.6bn to €1.3bn) and redemptions of €2.9bn. Wealth Management deposits remained stable at €27.9bn, despite the market trend for transforming demand deposits into assets under administration (AUA); strong client promotion activity limited outflows at low cost; and the share of tied deposits in promotion or time deposits was equal to 35% of the total. Interbank funding increased from €4.5bn to €6.8bn, reflecting the inclusion of certain non-recurring transactions.

Interest rate risk hedging activity, which is used for virtually all the Bank’s funding using plain vanilla swaps with qualified market counterparties, serves to transform the funding to floating rate (for bond issues and part of the modelled WM deposits). The reduction in interest rates over the twelve months drove an increase in the Fair Value of fixed-rate funding, the value of which (€1.2bn) is perfectly offset by the valuations for the derivatives (which are booked as other liabilities).

Loans and advances to customers – these totalled €52.4bn, virtually unchanged from last year, on healthy growth in Consumer Finance (up 5.1%, from €14.5bn to €15.2bn), driven primarily by personal loans (up 5.6%, from €7.1bn to €7.5bn) which offset the anticipated reduction in Corporate and Investment Banking (down 3.2%, from €19.6bn to €19bn) which continues to reflect weak demand in the Large Corporate segment (down 4.3%, from €16.7bn to €16bn) despite the performance of factoring where customer loans totalled €2.9bn (up 3.1% YoY). In Wealth Management customer loans totalled €16.9bn (€12.6bn of which in relation to Premier Banking and €4.3bn of which to Private Banking), basically unchanged from twelve months previously. Holding Functions reported a 14% reduction in lendings, reflecting the sale of Revalea (with its €238.8m loans) and the trimming of the Leasing loan book (down 11.1%, to €1.2bn).

Customer loans in Consumer Finance reflect 6.6% growth in new business for the twelve months (from €7.8bn to €8.4bn), on higher personal loans (up 11.5%, from €3.5bn to €3.9bn) driven by the direct channel (up 10.5%, from €2.7bn to €3bn), which offset the decrease in automotive finance (down 11.7%, from €1.6bn to €1.4bn) and special purpose loans (down 2.2%, from €1.2bn to €1.1bn); whereas new business in BNPL increased by almost 3x (from €189.6m to €496.5m). New loans in Corporate and Investment Banking were down slightly, impacted by the 3% reduction in Wholesale Banking (to €6.9bn), with repayments totalling €2.3bn, while turnover in factoring business remained stable at €12bn. New business in leasing was down 13.1%, from €306.9m to €266.8m, while new mortgage loans more than halved, from €2.2bn to €1.1bn.

Gross NPLs totalled €1,336.7m, basically stable compared to last year (€1,339.7m), and account for 2.5% of total loans. Corporate and Investment Banking more than halved its gross NPLs, which declined from €135.7m to €51.2m, following disposals of certain single-name Large Corporate Items totalling €113.1m, with the gross stock for this segment amounting to €24.8m due to the arrival of three new exposures, the largest of which is secured by an insurance policy issued by a public entity; meanwhile gross NPLs in factoring business were largely stable, at €26.5m (€25.6m). Leasing operations reported gross NPLs of €79.8m, representing a further reduction from last year (€107.8m). NPLs in Consumer Finance was raised from €878m to €978m, as a result of the expected increase in default rates that have returned to their pre-Covid levels, with gross NPLs representing 5.93% of total loans (5.59%). NPLs in Wealth Management increased by approx. €10.6m due to the inclusion of certain positions in the Private Banking Division (which added €20m) which are adequately counter-guaranteed, in part offset by the reduction in the mortgage lending segment (down €9.5m) which continues to benefit from very low default rates. The slight reduction in the

coverage ratio (down from 72% to 69%) is due to the higher quality of the new additions and is reflected in the rise in net NPLs (from €374.3m to €413.7m), but the share of net bad debts is extremely low at just €29.6m (0.1% of the loan stock).

Net Stage 2 positions totalled €2,331.5m (4.4% of net loans), lower than last year (€2,491.6m), and were concentrated in Consumer Finance (where they decreased from €1,364.2m to €1,234m; 8% of net loans) and in mortgage lending (down from €681.7m to €671.8m), where lifetime criteria were introduced during the twelve months in connection with SICR (Significant Increase in Credit Risk); net Stage 2 positions also decreased in Corporate and Investment Banking (from €323.7m to €277.1m), helped by the reduction in the Large Corporate segment (from €269.5m to €174.4m) which was only in part offset by the rise recorded in Factoring business (from €54.2m to €102.7m) due to certain breaches that were soon dealt with; while the increase in net Stage 2 positions in Wealth Management (from €726.1m to €744.9m) regards Private Banking (from €44.4m to €73.1m), which reflects the delays reported in respect of certain appropriately secured exposures.

The selective lending policy adopted, coupled with prudent provisioning, has enabled the Group to keep its coverage ratios stable, both for performing loans (1.31%, versus 1.34% last year) and Consumer Finance (3.67%, versus 3.75%). The stock of overlays remains adequate (at approx. €222m, €175m of which in Consumer Finance), albeit slightly lower than last year (€268m and €209m respectively).

Investment holdings⁽¹³⁾  – these increased from €4.4bn to €4.7bn, €3.8bn of which involve the investments accounted for using the equity method, plus €256.2m in investments in funds, and €657.3m in equities (including equity-like instruments).

The book value of the Assicurazioni Generali investment increased from €3,472.2m to €3,698m in the twelve months, on profits of €503m, reductions in net equity totalling €15.6m, and distribution of the dividend (€261.6m). The book value as at 30 June 2024 (calculated based on the company’s net equity as at 31 March 2024 net of the dividend) was boosted by an excellent performance in all business segments, non-life insurance in particular, driven by the effects of market interest rates on reserves, which more than offset the (material) impact of natural catastrophes; the company’s result benefited from certain non-recurring

⁽¹³⁾  This heading brings together investments covered by IAS 28, joint ventures covered by IFRS 11 (MB SpeedUp), investments measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, and holdings in funds (including seed capital) measured at fair value through profit and loss; the equity-accounted investments have been allocated to the Insurance/Private Investing Division with the exception of HeidiPay (Consumer Finance) and MB SpeedUp (Holding Functions).

items such as the gains generated on the disposals of TUA Assicurazioni S.p.A. and Generali Deutschland Pensionkasse.

The value of the investment in IEO (25.37%) was stable at €39m, reflecting only a minor loss of €0.2m; while that in Finanziaria Gruppo Bisazza S.r.l. (22.67%) was worth €6.7m (€7.1m last year), following a profit of €403,00 for the period plus the €839,000 dividend distributed; the investment in CLI Holdings II Limited reduced from €38.6m to €37m, following the collection of dividends totalling €9.1m and profits for the period of €7.5m; the value of the HeidiPay AG investment remains stable at €6.6m reflecting the €315,000 loss offset by a €337,000 increase in net equity; and the MB SpeedUp stake was worth €1.8m.

Holdings in funds increased from €562.9m to €657.3m, following net investments of €81.1m and upward value adjustments of €13.2m; of these holdings, €376m involve funds managed by the Group (seed capital) and €281.3m external funds, for the most part private equity.

Holdings in equities (including equity-like instruments) increased from €241m to €256.2m, following new investments totalling €12.5m, the effects of the adjustments to reflect Fair Value at the year-end adding €15.5m, and partial redemptions of equity-like instruments amounting to approx. €12m.

⁽¹⁾ Differs from the figure shown in the following table by just under €0.1m due to minor associate companies (30/6/23: €0.1m).

The Group’s investment in Assicurazioni Generali at 30 June 2024 had a market value of €4,759.1m (€23.29 per share), which is higher than its book value (€17 per share). As required by IAS 36 the impairment test was carried out on the investment, which it passed; the value in use too, calculated according to the Group policy, was significantly higher than the book value.

For further details please see the Notes to the Accounts, Assets, section 7 – Equity investments.

Banking book debt securities – Fixed-income securities held as part of the banking book totalled €11.3bn, split between Hold to Collect & Sell (€6.6bn) and Hold to Collect (€4.6bn). The book’s low duration facilitated turnover (approx. €2.1bn), which benefited immediately from the increase in yields.

Conversely, the decline in interest rates recorded during the twelve months is reflected in the stocks’ valuations: the OCI reserve has reduced the deficit reported at end-June 2023 (minus €73.2m) to minus €9.2m, due to a recovery in valuations, just over one-third of which is attributable to government securities (Italian and non-Italian) and the remainder to corporate and financial bonds. The positive market performance recorded in the summer months has enabled the OCI reserve to return to positive territory. The unrealized losses on the Hold to Collect portfolio (which are recognized at cost) reduced from €85.4m at the start of the financial year to €44.2m.

Approx. 78% of the banking book is made up of sovereign debt (€8.9bn), €3.2bn of which as HTC and €5.6bn as HTC&S with a very short duration (approx. 2 years); the share accounted for by Italian government securities totals €5.4bn (approx. 47% of the entire portfolio, with a duration of approx. 2 years).

Net treasury assets – net treasury assets increased by approx. €1.4bn (from €5bn to €6.4bn), while the change is much more pronounced on a gross basis, where the balance of trading activities and treasury lendings and cash rose by €6.6bn to €26.5bn. Such growth was despite the cash outflows to repay the T-LTRO (which totalled approx. €4.3bn over the twelve months), due to an increase of €5.1bn in treasury funding which totalled €10.6bn, and to the increase in market repos (up €5.7bn, to €9bn).

The pronounced increase in the Group’s sources of funding encouraged the increase in investments, with the equity component now standing at €3.9bn (up €2.7bn YoY), while the bond component rose by €2.1bn YoY to €3.5bn. This active funding management strategy, coupled with the reduction in cash and cash assets held on deposit with the European Central Bank (down €900m), has enabled the Group to take advantage of favourable market opportunities to improve its earnings results, by deploying the funding raised at higher interest rates.

Tangible and intangible assets – these totalled €1.6bn (€1.3bn), with intangible assets increasing from €796.9m to €1bn, and tangible assets of €549.6m (€530.7m).

The trend in the twelve months was attributable to the two acquisitions, the Purchase Price Allocation process for both of which has already been concluded. In particular, the acquisition of Arma Partners has resulted in goodwill of €246.9m being recorded, after the brand was valued at €29.1m, and a client list identified worth €6.3m; while for the HeidiPay Switzerland deal, a client list worth €2.6m was matched with €5.1m in goodwill. Conversely, the RAM and Messier & Associés brand values were reduced, by €31.7m and €10.2m respectively.

As for software, acquisitions worth €36.5m were made during the twelve months, and €38.6m in amortization charges recognized, including the work ahead of schedule for the software used by MIS for a total of €6.8m.⁽¹⁴⁾ 

Tangible assets rose from €530.7m to €549.6m and involve purchases of furniture and equipment totalling €35.6m, spending on capitalized improvements amounting to €18.3m, and as usual operations covered by IFRS 16 (most of which attributable to renting contracts) of €37.2m. Depreciation and amortization charges totalled €71.1m, €49.9m of which pursuant to IFRS 16 and €21.2m on properties and other tangible assets.

An updated list of the core properties owned by the Group is provided below:

Reference is made to Notes to the Accounts, Assets, section 10, for further details on the Purchase Price Allocation process and the valuations of the tangible and intangible assets tested for impairment as required and provided for by IAS 36 and by the Group Impairment Policy.

Provisions for liabilities – these amounted to €158.1m; the reduction compared to last year (€182.6m) was primarily attributable to the provision for risks and charges (which decreased from €139.6m to €116.3m); while commitments and guarantees and the provision for statutory end-of-service payments were both largely stable, the former at €21.4m (vs €22.2m) and the latter at €20.8m (€20.4m).

The provision for risks and charges primarily covers the legal and tax disputes (€63.3m), plus sundry other charges (€42.8m), in part linked to human resources for guarantees and indemnities (€23m), and the specific risks such as the one entailed by the Lexitor ruling (€10m).

The reduction in the heading overall is attributable mainly to the use of the provisions set aside last year to facilitate staff turnover (€14m) and to provisions being released as a result of the favourable outcome of some litigation (€11m).

For further details, reference is made to section 10 of the Notes to the Accounts.