CEO Victor Massiah said at the April 2 shareholders meeting that the lenderdoes not have any merger plans at present, Reuters reported the same day.

Massiahreportedly said that Italy has not pressured the lender to search for a mergerpartner. UBI Banca plans to present a new business strategy before June-end,Massiah added.

UBIBanca was the first cooperative bank in Italy to into a joint-stock company aspart of a government directive aimed at promoting mergers in the cooperativebanking sector, the newswire noted.

UBIBanca had reportedly courted Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl, which late in Marchagreed a tie-up withBanco Popolare SocietàCooperativa.