Luigi Abete, chairman of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, an Italian bank which has just seen off a takeover assault from Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, today attacked the insurer which helped him do it, and took a swipe at the governor of the Bank of Italy.

Abete told Il Sole 24, the Italian daily, that Unipol's €2.70 per share cash counter offer for BNL unveiled last Monday, was too low and that Bank governor Antonio Fazio had set "a terrible precedent" in the way he had handled the current bid battles for Italian banks.