Milan bourse chair defends Euronext deal as strike looms

MILAN (Reuters) - The chair of the Milan stock exchange on Monday defended the way it has been run by owner Euronext after unions called a historic strike for later this week.

Italian banking unions have accused Euronext, which also operates stock markets in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon and Oslo of "constant, systematic and overall disinvestment from Italy" and said they feared job cuts.

They have scheduled their strike for the last two working hours of June 27, the first in the history of the exchange, with other forms of protests in the following days.

"The Euronext deal...has not taken away from Italy as the numbers show. The numbers have increased in terms of employment and wealth," said Claudia Parzani, chair of Borsa Italiana, the Milan exchange.

Speaking at an event organised by newspaper Il Giornale, Parzani said investments had also been made in terms of improving the technology at the exchange.

"There are lots of Italians in extremely interesting positions," she added, responding to concerns over the distribution of jobs at the exchange.

Parzani also pointed out Euronext is shifting the group's clearing of derivatives trading to Italy.

Euronext completed its acquisition of the Italian stock exchange in April 2021. The 4.3 billion euro ($4.6 billion) deal has turned Italy into a key revenue engine for the group.

However, the takeover of Borsa Italiana, previously part of London Stock Exchange Group, has been a sensitive political matter in Italy, mostly due to its ownership of the MTS platform where Rome's 2.4 trillion euro government bonds are traded.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Writing by Keith Weir)