MILAN - Credit Agricole has acquired a 5.2% direct stake in Banco BPM through Deutsche Bank, two sources with knowledge of a regulatory filing told Reuters.

The holding emerged from a disclosure filing dated Feb. 19 published by market regulator Consob on Thursday. A Deutsche Bank spokesperson said it had been built up on behalf of clients and was not proprietary.

Credit Agricole said in December said it had entered into derivative contracts to increase its stake in BPM by 5.2% to 15.1% from 9.9%, and was seeking the European Central Bank approval to buy up to 19.99%.

The two sources said Deutsche Bank had built the 5.2% stake for Credit Agricole without clarifying whether that meant the French bank had secured the supervisory approval needed to cross the 10% threshold.

A spokesperson for Credit Agricole said the bank did not comment on market rumours and planned to communicate when it received clearance from the ECB to go above 9.9%.

With Credit Agricole already the biggest investor in Banco BPM, the approval is widely seen as posing no major hurdle. The stake increase also had the blessing of Italy's government, sources previously told Reuters.

The ECB communicates its approval to the individual banks and it is up to them whether to tell markets. Pending the approval, it is allowed for banks to use derivatives to build up stakes.

Banco BPM has become a takeover target for UniCredit , a bid which BPM is trying to fight by pursuing an acquisition of fund manager Anima Holding to boost earnings.

Banco BPM's shareholders on Friday vote on the board's proposal to raise the price of the buyout offer for Anima.

Credit Agricole, which has ruled out bidding for the whole of BPM, has commercial partnerships with both BPM and UniCredit that it wants to protect.

(Reporting by Valentina Za and Andrea Mandala; editing by Giselda Vagnoni)