Consob, the Italian financial regulator, has forced Unipol Assicurazioni, the Italian insurer, to reveal whether it wants to bid for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, the takeover target of Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria. Unipol has refused to rule out a bid.

Unipol, which holds a 9.99% stake in BNL, said it had "no immediate plans to launch, alone or with other parties, any offer for BNL shares". It added that the board had not examined any plan for buying BNL nor had it met to talk about a bid.