The global order is dead; we are all vulnerable. This was the message from Mario Draghi, echoed by Marc Carne, as Draghi received an honorary doctorate in Belgium. Europe cannot afford to remain a fragile club of vetoes and indecision. Where Europe chose federation, trade, competition, and the single market, it is respected. Where it didn't, in foreign policy, defense, and industrial strategy, it is defenseless and vulnerable. Europe is squeezed between US and Chinese mercantilism, risking subordination and deindustrialization. A Europe that cannot defend its interests will hardly preserve its values. It's not just a two-speed Europe but deeper federal integration for those willing to cede sovereignty. Pragmatic federalism, as Draghi put it. We'll see if leaders on February 12th respond to the last call. I'm Silvia Berzoni, and this is Morning Finance, a Blackbox video podcast. Yesterday's session was important for resilience. Investors shed excesses and returned to buying based on fundamentals; Deutsche Bank said this earnings season could be the most important in four years. The ISM Manufacturing expanded to 52.6, fastest since 2022. On trade, India de-escalated after Trump's call with Modi: India stops buying Russian oil, US reduces tariffs to 18%, India opens market and commits $500 billion. The Indian index rose 5%. Gold recovered to $4,822, JP Morgan target $6,300. Silver volatile, Bitcoin above $78,000 after $2.6 billion liquidations. In Asia, MSCI AP up 2-4%, Nikkei +4%. RBA raised rates to 3.85%. In Europe, Milan and Madrid led. Stellantis registrations rose 11.8%. Intesa Sanpaolo's 2025 net profit was a record €9.3 billion, targeting over €10 billion this year and €11.5 billion by end of plan. The plan aims to create €500 billion for stakeholders, with payouts possibly exceeding 95%. Intesa will disburse €260 billion in loans. CEO Messina said they seek full control, and on a Generali-Unicredit deal, combining an asset manager with a bank network doesn't make sense. Now here is my interview with him.
Yes, above 11 and a half. We didn't give a precise number but a threshold we believe we can exceed in 2029. The plan has very conservative assumptions on volume growth and interest rates. Given the bank's strength, we have even more potential in wealth management and credit provision not yet in the plan but we will reasonably achieve.
That is an important number. Our primary strength is our people. We have unique human capital in Europe. Technology: we invested over 10 billion to rebuild our IT system completely; it is cloud-based, not mainframe, an indisputable advantage. Our fee-based business model ensures strong earnings sustainability. We managed cost reduction and administrative expense containment. AI and digital allowed us to work with fewer people, all departures voluntary, and we continue to hire young people. On risk, further de-risking brought net NPLs to 800 million euros, lowest in Europe, giving us tranquility for the future.
5 more exchanges in this transcript
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Messina, C. (2026, February 2). Asia hits highs, gold and silver rise: SpaceX buys XAI, Interview with Carlo Messina | Morning Fi... [Interview transcript]. Chora Media. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1066000/
MLA
Carlo Messina. "Asia hits highs, gold and silver rise: SpaceX buys XAI, Interview with Carlo Messina | Morning Fi...." Chora Media, 2 Feb. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1066000/.
BibTeX
@misc{messina2026_1066000,
author = {Carlo Messina},
title = {Asia hits highs, gold and silver rise: SpaceX buys XAI, Interview with Carlo Messina | Morning Fi...},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Chora Media. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {feb},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1066000/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
