Intesa targets private banking, asset management acquisitions - paper

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's leading retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo wants to boost its private banking, asset management and insurance businesses, including through acquisitions, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview on Thursday.

CEO Carlo Messina told Corriere della Sera daily that Intesa was interested in growing in countries such as Britain, the United States and Switzerland, as well as in Asia.

Asked about Coutts International after a source close to the matter said this week Intesa could be interested in the wealth management arm of Royal Bank of Scotland, Messina said it was a "very interesting asset" but that RBS was reluctant to sell it.

"On the other hand we're not ready to pay any price," he said.

He ruled out that Intesa could buy other banks or even branches in Italy and that it could be interested in cross-border deals such as buying a stake in Commerzbank that the German government may consider selling after the restructuring of the lender is completed in 2016.

(Reporting by Valentina Za; editing by Francesca Landini)