Banks, the commissions are back, the cancellation of which had raised the sensational protest of the ABI, with the resignation of the entire top management. There the Industry Commission of the Senate is in fact starting the examination of the decree presented last Friday and which supplements the provision on liberalisations, in practice canceling the rule which precisely canceled the banking clauses which provided for commissions against the granting of credit lines.
The decree limits the nullity of commissions only to clauses that are stipulated in violation of the implementing provisions on the subject of remuneration of credit lines and overdrafts, adopted by the Interministerial Committee for credit and savings. In practice, since it is unthinkable that banks operate in violation of the aforementioned provisions, the de facto decree reintroduces commissions.
The same decree provides the establishment of the Observatory on credit disbursement by banks to businesses for the purpose of 1) taking action to request information to assess the critical issues in the loan granting procedure, with the obligation for banks to justify the reasons for any denials; 2) promote the formulation of best practices. Two representatives of the Ministry of the Economy (one acting as president) and one of the Ministry of Economic Development and one of the Bank of Italy will be part of the Observatory. They can be invited to intervene, without the right to vote, the ABI and the business and category associations.
After the start of the general examination, the commission will proceed to some hearings. The first to be heard will be the Italian Banking Association. Then, Confindustria and Rete Imprese Italia. THE times for conversion into law are not very long: the pauses for the Easter holidays, those of April 25 and May XNUMX and for the suspension in view of the local elections in May weigh on the work process.
