The national and European authorities are doing their utmost to ensure, in some cases of bank crises in Italy, that "reasonable and satisfactory" solutions are found, where necessary. But in case of systemic risks, there must be “a public safety net” for the banks. This is what the governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, writes in the afterword to the new edition of "The difficult art of the banker" by Luigi Einaudi, presented today during a conference at the ABI.
“Banks are not businesses like any other – continues Visco – At the basis of their operations is trust: if this fails, even just for one bank, the whole system can be affected”.
But this "does not mean ignoring, or even worse justifying incorrect and illegal behavior - specifies the Governor - those who violate the rules must pay for their responsibilities. However, we must now be aware that the marked do not always know how to correct themselves ".
The critical position of the Bank of Italy on the rigidity of the European bail-in was already known, but Visco's words are particularly timely in the light of the provision save-savings launched yesterday by the government, which asked Parliament for authorization to raise the state's debt by 20 billion to save the Italian banks in difficulty.
This is a precautionary and preparatory measure with respect to the decree that will be passed (probably on Friday) to save Mps in case the capital increase on the market fails. Not only that: in addition to Montepaschi, the same provision could also secure Veneto Banca, Popolare di Vicenza and Carige.
Meanwhile, at the end of the morning, the Monte dei Paschi stock on the Stock Exchange recovered just under one percentage point, to 18,79 euros per share, after yet another collapse suffered yesterday (-11%).
