By Elena Vardon and Adria Calatayud

Intesa Sanpaolo said it plans to cut 6,100 jobs by 2029 under a strategy to rein in costs, boost profits and distribute nearly half of its market capitalization to shareholders.

The Italian bank pledged to return 95% of the earnings generated in the period to 2029 to investors through a mix of dividends and buybacks, amounting to a cumulative 50 billion euros ($59.25 billion). The group will evaluate additional returns on a yearly basis starting in 2027, it added.

Intesa, Italy's largest bank by assets since its acquisition of smaller rival UBI Banca in 2020, sat out a wave of consolidation that swept through the country's crowded banking sector last year. It is instead seeking to strike a balance between expanding its top and bottom lines from its existing operations while continuing to splurge on shareholder payouts.

Its new business plan, outlined on Monday alongside its fourth-quarter results, focuses on trimming expenses and expanding its fee-generating revenue streams to cushion the blow from falling interest rates.

When Intesa last presented a strategic plan in February 2022, eurozone interest rates were in negative territory. The European Central Bank later embarked on a historic series of rate increases that took its key policy rate to a record high, leaving eurozone lenders with a windfall and fueling a rally in banking stocks that took Intesa's market value above the 100 billion-euro mark.

As central banks ease policy, Intesa and other eurozone peers are moving to diversify income streams to reduce reliance on traditional lending.

"The new business plan will build on what already works, scaling our strengths. It is an ambitious plan, but with zero execution risk," Intesa Chief Executive Carlo Messina in a call with analysts. "I think that we will overdeliver the plan."

The group forecasts an increase in operating income--its revenue metric--to 30.7 billion euros by the end of the plan, up from 27.3 billion euros in 2025. It aims to achieve this by increasing its net fee and commission income by nearly 4% per year and its smaller insurance business revenue by 3%, along with loan volume growth and investments in technology.

The bank also plans to expand its wealth management and corporate services in France, Germany and Spain.

"The international banks will contribute a lot more to net income growth than in the past," Messina said.

It aims to deliver 1.6 billion euros in cost savings over the period, cutting annual expenses by 200 million euros to 11.3 billion euros by 2029.

The savings hinge on a net 6.7% workforce reduction over the course of the plan, with around 12,400 employee exits--mostly through voluntary redundancies in Italy--and 6,300 new hires. As of Sept. 30, the group employed some 90,700 people.

Intesa expects the savings to help lift net profit to more than 11.5 billion euros in 2029, up from 9.32 billion euros last year. It guided for around 10 billion euros in net profit this year.

For the fourth quarter, the bank made a net profit of 1.73 billion euros, up from 1.50 billion euros in the same prior-year period. Operating income rose to 6.84 billion euros from 6.67 billion euros. Both figures exceeded what analysts polled by Visible Alpha had forecast.

Intesa proposed a final dividend for 2025 of 3.3 billion euros and said it would launch a 2.3 billion-euro buyback in July.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com and to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2026 07:20 ET (12:20 GMT)

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