Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna SC and Crédit Agricole Cariparma SpA have denied that they have any interest in buying the good bank carved out of failed Italian lender CARIFE SpA, MF reported Dec. 14.

Giampiero Maioli, CEO of Cariparma, said his bank was not interested in CARIFE, while Alessandro Vandelli, CEO of BPER, said "we aren't buying anything."

CARIFE was one of four small Italian banks rescued by the Italian government in late 2015. Unione di Banche Italiane SpA was reported in late November to have been given preliminary ECB approval to acquire the other three.