With the company Growth decree launched in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the Council of Ministers gave the green light to the rules on compensation for savers overwhelmed by the collapse of the two Venetian banks (Pop Vicenza e Veneto Bank) and of the four institutes of Central Italy (CariFe, Dear Chieti, Marche Bank e Banca Etruria).
The new rules "clarify the audience and the methods of access for shareholders and bondholders to the Savings Compensation Fund - reads in a note from the Mef – for which they have been allocated in total 1,5 billion euros in the three-year period 2019-2021".
Refunds will be automatic for savers who meet one of these two requirements:
- taxable income of less than €35 per year (the 2018 tax return is valid);
or
- movable assets (deposits and securities) of less than 100 thousand euros, a ceiling which, however, the Government will raise up to 200mila euros if the European Commission gives the go-ahead (but the agreement is not taken for granted: the risk is that Brussels will block the intervention considering it undue state aid).
In the light of all this, the Ministry of the Economy writes that refunds will start automatically, i.e. without recourse to any third party arbitrator, for about 90% of the savers involved.
the remaining 10% on the other hand, the use of simplified arbitration before a commission of nine experts. It is "a semi-automatic compensation - explains the Treasury - with the simplification of the verification processes by a Technical Commission, through the typification in different categories of massive violations and the criteria that lead to the direct payment of compensation".
- former shareholders of the six banks ended up in resolution will be entitled to an indemnity equal to 30% of the purchase cost of each title, while for the former bondholders this threshold has more than tripled, to 95%.
However, both the former shareholders and the former bondholders will not be able to receive as compensation more than 100 thousand euros each.
In order to arrive at the effective disbursement of the reimbursements, after the rules contained in the Growth decree, two steps are still missing: the implementing decree with the procedures for submitting applications and the examination by the commission of nine experts and a provision that transposes the agreement with Consap, entrusting the in-house company of the Treasury with operational tasks on file management. At that point, the 180-day window to file a claim will open.
