Popolari popularity soars as managers ride Italian bank rally

Fund managers have backed Italian banks to continue driving European equities higher this year, aided by a more supportive macro backdrop and beneficial domestic reforms.

Neptune's Rob Burnett, Invesco Perpetual's Stephanie Butcher and UBP Asset Management's Victoria Leggett all anticipate legislative change could help the country's banks to prosper further after a strong start to 2015. Legislation aimed at overhauling bank shareholder voting structures is due to come before Italy's parliament at the end of this month. If passed, it will become more difficult for unions to quash mergers among Italy's 780-strong banking sector. "Italy looked cheap before, but we did not sense the structural reforms were in place to unlock value. "[Italian Prime Minister...