Poste Italiane SpA (7PI.SG)

Italy picks KPMG to value digital payment platform PagoPA, sources say

Italy's Treasury has picked accounting firm KPMG to put a price tag on PagoPA, a company handling digital payments to the public administration, as it prepares to sell the business to the state mint and postal service Poste Italiane, people close to the matter said. The prospect of PagoPA changing hands, though it would remain under state-controlled entities, has spread alarm in Italy's crowded banking sector, where many small lenders are struggling to keep up with rapid changes in the payments sector. Banks look with concern at the increasing presence of non-bank digital payment providers such as Apple, Google-owner Alphabet or PayPal, and fear that Poste could use PagoPA to strengthen its position in the digital payments market.