Who in the government majority beats Padoan of Unicredit
Not only from the opposition, but also from the majority (in particular in the 5 Star Movement), criticisms come from the former Pd minister, Padoan, at the top of Unicredit. While the Treasury tries to facilitate the marriage of Mps with the Unicredit group. Facts, names, numbers and indiscretions
While on the Rome-Siena-Milan axis many are busy to celebrate the wedding between Montepaschi (Mps) and Unicredit by the end of the year, rumors continue to arrive about the preparations and the guests. Waiting for the choice of the new CEO – who will be officially appointed by the assembly on April 15 but who will start working much sooner – someone is starting to write down his skepticism for the appointment as president – last October – of Pier Carlo Padoan, former PD parliamentary and former Minister of Economy during the Renzi and Gentiloni executives.
QUESTION M5S
A question to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Roberto Gualtieri, and to the Minister for European Affairs, Vincenzo Amendola – both leading exponents of the same party in Padoan – comes from a group of senators from the Five Star Movement led by Elio Lannutti , who recall that “as Minister of Economy and Finance, on 23 December 2016 Padoan saved Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), with an injection of public money, which allowed the Sienese institute not to fail. Since then MPS has been a public bank, with majority shareholding in the Treasury ", Furthermore, they note," on 4 November, Pier Carlo Padoan resigned as a deputy of the Republic, elected to the Siena college in March 2018, in the ranks of the Democratic Party and next spring, as chairman of Unicredit, he will have to oversee the merger with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, then he will have to make an offer to buy the majority share package from the Treasury ". The point, however, is that Padoan "will guarantee the achievement of the objective in what the questioners identify as a macroscopic conflict of interest, potentially dangerous for the 'sound and prudent management' of the bank".
In support of this thesis, the pentastellated parliamentarians point out that "on 13 October, when it was co-opted by the Unicredit Board of Directors, Padoan allegedly declared that it was independent pursuant to the Articles of Association of Unicredit and the of Legislative Decree 58/1998, better known as the consolidated finance act or the Draghi law. In his statement, however, Padoan did not mention the Crd4 ”, that is the directive 2013/36 / EU approved by the European Parliament on June 27, 2013 which dictates strict rules for the selection of bank managers and directors.
According to the Crd4, the M5S senators continue, the former minister "certainly could not have considered himself 'independent', as on 13 October he was still a parliamentarian of the Republic and therefore not eligible for the Unicredit summit".
For this reason they ask Gualtieri and Amendola "if they are aware of the facts set out", "what initiatives within their competence they intend to undertake in order to ascertain the existence of potential conflicts of interest in the appointment of Pier Carlo Padoan at the top of Unicredit, as well more than the avoidance of such conflicts of interest, it would seem aimed at perfecting MPS's gift to UniCredit, relieved of an additional 13.5 billion euros, placed on the shoulders of taxpayers "and" if they wish to provide clarifications regarding the cancellation of paragraph 3 of 'article 24 (on the conflict of interest of bankers to be appointed) of the final text of the decree of 23 November 2020, n. 169 containing regulatory provisions on the requirements and eligibility criteria for the performance of the duties of corporate officers of banks, financial intermediaries, trust companies, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and depositor guarantee systems ". Finally, more generally, "what initiatives within their competence do the Ministers intend to undertake to ensure a transparent, healthy, prudent and correct management of banking institutions, preserving them as well as in this case, from the party market".
QUESTION FDI
The question presented to Gualtieri by the senator of the Brothers of Italy, vice president of Copasir, Adolfo Urso, is of the same tenor. "The appointment of the former minister Padoan to the Unicredit Board of Directors and the subsequent designation as president – he wonders – is the result of an ad personam forcing of the ministerial decree implementing the 2013 EU directive, finally launched last December after a wait seven years? ". Urso notes that "beyond the declaration of independence of the former minister Padoan, pursuant to the Articles of Association of Unicredit and the Corporate Governance Code for listed companies, he must have been aware of the impediment posed by the ministerial decree implementing the EU directive "And" even if at the time of designation the decree had not been passed, in his capacity as former Minister of the Economy and for having materially prepared the draft legislative decree for implementation, Padoan must have known very well that he could not have held the position of director, since in the last two years he had first been a member of a government and then a deputy in the ranks of the Democratic Party ”.
According to the FdI parliamentarian, we are therefore faced with a "clear attempt to circumvent the regulatory obstacle that would have prevented him from accessing the Unicredit board of directors". Urso also points out another anomaly, namely “the excerpt between the transitional and final provisions of the same implementing decree of the part in which reference is made to the guidelines drawn up by the ABE and the European Central Bank for the application of the provisions contained in the decree. An elimination – he underlines – which represents an ad personam improvement of the Regulation, and which has allowed the modification of the part concerning the requirements and suitability of those who go to carry out positions within the banking institutions. Thus paving the way for Padoan ”.
This is why Urso asks Gualtieri "to assess whether, in the light of the passing of the ministerial decree and the evident incompatibility in which the former minister Padoan finds himself, those requisites of independence required by the law exist and in the case of acting accordingly to protect the banking system from the risk of possible alterations produced precisely by non-impartial management ".
INDISCRIPTIONS ABOUT THE SALE OF UNICREDIT NPLS TO AMCO
While on the parliamentary side these news arrive, as we said, preparations for the wedding continue. According to rumors released by the Reuters agency, a plan is being studied in Via XX Settembre – precisely to facilitate the merger with Siena – a plan to acquire through Amco (the former Sga, 100% owned by the Treasury) about 14 billion of impaired loans. And also on the MPS front – writes Repubblica today – there could be some other sale of Npl ". The sale would make it possible to reach a dowry of 6 billion (together with tax incentives and capital strengthening), a figure that Unicredit seems to want to say yes to Montepaschi which, moreover, must deliver its capital plan to the European Commission by the end of January and thus illustrate the measures. which it intends to take for capital strengthening. It should be remembered that Marina Natale, at the helm of Amco, comes from Unicredit and is given as a candidate at the helm of Piazza Gae Aulenti.
THE MINI MPS
In the meantime, the future of Rocca Salimbeni is also being considered. A few days ago are the advances of the Messenger according to which – after the "probable merger" with Unicredit – a mini-bank MPS could be born "in the future, rooted in Tuscany to preserve the brand and some businesses on which local institutions are very sensitive" . According to the reconstruction of the Roman newspaper, local institutions, starting with the Region, would be "concerned with preserving the Rocca Salimbeni settlement as much as possible also for employment purposes" and for this reason the project would be to "resurrect an institution like the old Bank Tuscany, which had 480 branches, solid, based in Florence, incorporated into the parent company in 2009, when the negative impact on the equity of the maxi-outlay for Antonveneta (9.7 billion in 2007) imposed the first emergency measures ”.
News that made Enrico Zanetti, tax attorney and former Deputy Minister for Finance turn up their mouths, who in a post on Facebook commented: "It would be appropriate to realize on the part of the Government and not only that, if they make the MPS merger by exploiting billions of euro the bonus aggregations that they have put on purpose in the budget law, but then immediately after they split a good piece of what they have just merged, this could be called abuse of the right (tax avoidance) ".
THE LEGAL BOMB OF MPS
Meanwhile, the sword of Damocles still resists on Siena for damages , for about 10 billion, caused by the Antonveneta operation and the Alexandria and Santorini operations. Even for these, Repubblica points out , the executive is studying three solutions to "sterilize future risks for the buyer".
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Act No. 4-04709
Published on 29 December 2020, in session no. 288
LANNUTTI, PESCO, TONINELLI, SANTANGELO, L'ABBATE, PELLEGRINI Marco, RUSSO, GUIDOLIN, AUDDINO, DI MICCO, GIANNUZZI, LOREFICE, LOMUTI, PERILLI, PIRRO, GAUDIANO, MATRISCIANO, LANZI, ACCOTO, ROMAGNOLI, SAVANARA, PAVANARA CASTELLONE, DE LUCIA, ORTIS, AIROLA, PRESUTTO, DELL'OLIO, VACCARO, GALLICCHIO, COLTORTI, DONNO, CIOFFI, MORRA, ABATE, MOLLAME, MARINELLO, MAUTONE, DESSI ', ROMANO, VANIN, MANTOVANI, NATURALE, TRENTACOSTE, AGOSTINELLI, LUPO, CORRADO, ANGRISANI – To the Ministers of Economy and Finance and for European Affairs. -Given that:
at the meeting scheduled for spring 2021 which will renew the board, the Minister of Economy and Finance pro tempore (of the Renzi and Gentiloni Governments), Pier Carlo Padoan, will become president of Banca UniCredit. The co-option of Padoan was made official by the UniCredit Board of Directors on 13 October 2020;
as Minister of Economy and Finance, on 23 December 2016 Padoan saved Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), with an injection of public money, which allowed the Sienese institute not to fail. Since then MPS has been a public bank, with majority shareholding in the Treasury;
last November 4, Pier Carlo Padoan resigned as deputy of the Republic, elected to the Siena college in March 2018, in the ranks of the Democratic Party;
next spring, as president of Unicredit, Padoan will have to oversee the merger with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and will then have to make an offer to buy the majority share package from the Treasury. But the former Minister will guarantee the achievement of the objective in what the interrogators identify as a macroscopic conflict of interest, potentially dangerous for the "sound and prudent management" of the bank;
considering, in fact, that:
on 27 June 2013, the European Parliament approved Directive 2013/36 / EU, also known as "Crd4", which lays down strict rules for the selection of bank managers and board members;
Italy has delayed the transposition of this directive for seven years. The latest version was prepared by the Minister of Economy and Finance pro tempore Padoan, and provided for rules against conflicts of interest of the bankers to be appointed (paragraph 3 of article 24), which must be "independent", therefore not who can be appointed, for example, if in the two years prior to their appointment they held the role of parliamentarian;
the current Minister of Economy and Finance signed the decree of 23 November 2020 n. 169 laying down regulatory provisions on the requirements and eligibility criteria for the performance of the office of corporate officers of banks, financial intermediaries, trust companies, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and depositor guarantee systems. The provision, published on 15 December 2020 in the Official Gazette no. 310, will enter into force on 30 December 2020 and the provisions contained therein will apply to appointments subsequent to the aforementioned date. The decree was therefore signed by the Minister of Economy and Finance a few weeks after the co-optation of Padoan in Unicredit;
the EU regulations, negative for Italy, such as the entry into force from 1 January 2021 of the calendar provisioning and the new default criteria, which represent a disaster for both banks, SMEs and families, have been slavishly implemented in the Italian legal system, while regulations have been put in place that appear to be functional to the interests of the aspiring banker Padoan. In fact, among the very few changes that have been made to the text developed three years ago by Padoan himself, there is the cancellation of that paragraph 3 of article 24 on the conflict of interest of the bankers to be appointed. In a nutshell, the directive has been implemented in a version that allows Padoan to become president of Unicredit, even if he was a member of the Democratic Party, and this ad hoc rule appears even more scandalous if aimed at perfecting MPS's gift to UniCredit , relieved of a further 13.5 billion euro to be paid by the community;
moreover, as far as the questioners know:
on 13 October, when he was co-opted by the Unicredit Board of Directors, Padoan allegedly declared "to be independent pursuant to the Articles of Association of Unicredit and the Corporate Governance Code of Listed Companies, as well as pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 58/1998", better known as the consolidated act of finance or the Draghi law. In his statement, however, Padoan would not have mentioned the Crd4, for which he certainly could not have considered himself "independent", since on 13 October he was still a parliamentarian of the Republic and therefore not eligible for the Unicredit summit,
you ask to know:
whether the Ministers in address are aware of the facts set out;
what initiatives within their competence they intend to undertake in order to ascertain the existence of potential conflicts of interest in the appointment of Pier Carlo Padoan as the top management of Unicredit, especially since the avoidance of such conflicts of interest would seem aimed at perfecting MPS's gift to UniCredit, relieved of an additional € 13.5 billion, placed on the shoulders of taxpayers;
if they wish to provide clarification regarding the cancellation of paragraph 3 of article 24 (on the conflict of interest of the bankers to be appointed) from the final text of the decree of 23 November 2020, n. 169 laying down regulatory provisions on the requirements and eligibility criteria for the performance of the office of corporate officers of banks, financial intermediaries, trust companies, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and deposit guarantee systems;
if they consider it normal to slavishly transpose into Italian law EU rules which are negative for Italy such as those mentioned;
more generally, what initiatives within their competence do the Ministers intend to undertake to guarantee a transparent, healthy, prudent and correct management of banking institutions, preserving them, as in this case, from the party market.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/primo-piano/chi-nella-maggioranza-di-governo-picchia-padoan-in-unicredit/ on Wed, 30 Dec 2020 16:07:25 +0000.