Fund for small investors hit by bank rescues

(ANSA) - Rome, December 4 - A solidarity fund is to be set up to safeguard small savers and bond holders destined to lose out in the rescue of four crisis-hit Italian banks, ANSA sources said Friday. The fund to be created by the 2016 budget bill will partially offset losses for small investors estimated at 300-350 million euros, the sources said. The ruling PD filed an amendment to the government's budget bill calling for 120 million euros to be allocated to the solidarity fund - with 80 million of those to come from the banking sector. The government-led rescue plan approved last month sees the banking sector itself cover most of the cost of saving Banca delle Marche, Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio, Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia di Chieti and Cassa Di Risparmio di Ferrara. CONSOB President Giuseppe Vegas announced Friday that the Italian stock market regulator was running checks to see whether shares in the insolvent banks, which are now worthless, were sold to clients without proper information about the risks. "We are running checks although we have not had any especially significant reports," Vegas said.