For the first time in years, European bank mergers look to be more than a tantalizing mirage on the horizon.

Last week, Turin-headquartered lender Intesa Sanpaolo secured the investor support needed to buy local rival Unione di Banche Italiane, or UBI. The hostile deal was announced just before Covid-19 went global and was hashed out through the lockdowns. The merger will create the eurozone’s second-largest bank by market value, after BNP Paribas, even though Intesa agreed to sell over 500 branches to midsize rival BPER Banca to satisfy competition authorities.