Italy Approves Rescue Plan for Four Local Banks
November 22 2015 - 8:40PM
Dow Jones News
MILAN—The Italian government has approved a €3.6 billion
privately-funded rescue plan for four troubled small and midsize
local banks, applying newly enacted European rules on the
resolution of troubled lenders.
According to the plan approved on Sunday by Matteo Renzi's
government, four good banks and one single bad bank will be carved
out of lenders Cassa di risparmio di Ferrara SpA, Banca delle
Marche SpA, Banca popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio SC and Cassa di
risparmio della Provincia di Chieti SpA.
Each of the four good banks will contain the healthy assets of
the different banks, while one single bad bank will contain those
banks' bad loans.
The plan comes at the end of a long period in which Italian
authorities tried to set the four banks on a path to recovery,
having replaced their management and having worked to recapitalize
the institutions and make them more profitable.
The Italian government and the Bank of Italy are now using
recently approved European rules to attempt to resolve the issues
at the banks, which had been severely hit by mounting bad loans and
lack the capital to absorb losses.
The Bank of Italy, who is overseeing the resolution of the four
banks, said that the losses of the four lenders have already been
partially absorbed by their shareholders and some of their
bondholders, as requested by the Bank Recovery and Resolution
Directive—the European law regulating the decision of the Italian
government.
The good banks will be recapitalized by a fund financed by the
country's lenders, the so-called Resolution Fund, to increase the
four banks' capital to a level equal to 9% of their risk-weighted
assets.
UniCredit SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo Spa and UBI Banca SpA will lend
the Fund the initial capital it needs to be immediately
operational, the Bank of Italy said.
These banks will all be chaired by Roberto Nicastro, a veteran
Italian banker who has recently left UniCredit SpA, where he was
general manager, and run by new managers appointed by the Bank of
Italy.
These managers are tasked with selling the good banks to "the
best bidders in a short time," the Bank of Italy said.
The bad bank will contain deteriorated loans of an overall
nominal value of €8.5 billion, which have been written down to €1.5
billion. It will either sell them or work to collect at least part
of them.
The Bank of Italy said the Resolution Fund will pay €1.7 billion
to cover for the original losses of the four banks and that it will
be able to recuperate only a small part of this money.
Then the Fund will hand out another €1.8 billion to recapitalize
the good banks, which it could get back when the banks are sold,
and €140 million to provide the bad bank with the necessary cash to
function.
Giada Zampano contributed to this article
Write to Giovanni Legorano at giovanni.legorano@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 22, 2015 20:25 ET (01:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Intesa Sanpaolo (BIT:ISP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Intesa Sanpaolo (BIT:ISP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024