(By Paul Virgo).
Arezzo's bankruptcy court on
Thursday declared the 'old' Banca Etruria insolvent, upholding a
request by bank commissioner Giuseppe Santoni.
The court instead rejected an objection that last year's
Banca Etruria rescue was unconstitutional, filed by defence
lawyers for the bank's last president, Lorenzo Rosi.
The legal documents will now be transferred to the
prosecutor's office in the Tuscan city, paving the way for the
possible opening of a probe into fraudulent bankruptcy.
Rosi's lawyers said they would appeal the insolvency
ruling.
Premier Matteo Renzi's government stepped in to save Banca
Marche, Banca Etruria, CariChieti and CariFe at the end of
November, using financing from Italy's healthier banks.
The rescue saved jobs and protected account holders by
setting up four new banks, but rendered shares and bonds in the
'old' lenders worthless.
The case is sensitive for the government as Reform Minister
Maria Elena Boschi's father was a former vice president of Banca
Etruria.
Boschi and the government as a whole both had to fend off
no-confidence motions filed by opposition parties over the case.
Renzi said the government could not do more to soften the
impact of the rescues due to European laws against State aid.
The executive is set to hand Italy's anti-corruption
authority the job of handling the arbitration cases for small
investors who say they lost money because they were misinformed
by their banks about the risks of buying the bonds.
Renzi has said the compensation fund for this will be
presented shortly, after it did not feature in measures approved
by cabinet on Wednesday.
Consumer associations Adusbef and Federconsumatori on
Thursday appealed to the government to drop the arbitration and
simply reimburse the families who lost money.
On Wednesday, Renzi's cabinet approved a series of
measures aiming to reinforce Italy's troubled banking sector,
which has been hit badly by this week's turmoil on the stock
markets.
These included the setting up of a single group with at
least one billion euros in capital, bringing together Italy's
many small cooperative credit banks (BCC).
Renzi said the coop banks will not be forced to sign up,
but those that opt out must have at least 200 million euros in
reserves.
"It's reasonable that there be one group, which will form a
safeguard and cohesion umbrella for all the credit cooperative
banks that decide to stay inside," Renzi told reporters.
"The credit cooperative banks model will remain but it
must be within a system that is stronger and more solid".
Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said about 10 of the
BCCs have reserves of at least 200 million euros.
"That does not mean that they have to opt out, but they
can," Padoan said.
The cabinet also approved a guarantee scheme agreed with
the European Commission to help Italian banks offload some of
the billions of euros of non-performing loans that are weighing
down their balance sheets.
In related news, the judiciary's self-governing body, the
Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM), has decided to continue
its inquiry into the case of Arezzo Prosecutor Roberto Rossi,
ANSA sources said.
The CSM requested more documentation from Florence
prosecutors on an investigation of Boschi's father, Pier Luigi
Boschi. Rossi's office was involved in this case.
Rossi also led a probe into the failure of Banca Etruria
and the CSM is looking into whether Rossi is incompatible
because he also works as a government consultant.
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