Draft Amendments to the Articles of Association

At today's meeting, the Bank's Board of Directors, with the approval of the Board of Statutory Auditors, approved draft amendments to the Articles of Association to be submitted at the next Shareholders' Meeting, which will be convened to approve the 2015 financial statements.

The draft forms part of the plan to transform the legal form of the Bank from a cooperative to a joint-stock company in accordance with the current regulations (art. 29, paragraphs 2-bis and 2-ter of the CBA, as introduced by Decree Law 3 dated 24 January 2015, converted into Law 33 dated 24 March 2015), which was approved by the Board of Directors on 6 October 2015 and announced to the market on the same date.