In view of the crucial appointments for the five Bank takeover bids, which make Italian finance electric as it hasn't been seen since the end of the 90s, the procession of the bankers a Palazzo Chigi, with the sole exception of the CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo, Charles Messina who, not being interested in the banking risk, has nothing to say or ask of the Government.
Instead, the CEO of Unicredit went to Palazzo Chigi, Andrea Orcell, then that of Banco Bpm, Joseph Chestnut, then the President of Credit Agricole Italia, Giampiero Maioli with the deputy CEO, Jerome Grivet, and, last but not least, the CEO of Generali, Philippe Donnet and the president of the company, Andrea Sironi. There is no record of them having met the Prime Minister officially. Giorgia Meloni but only senior officials of the Presidency of the Council in addition to the Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, at the Mef headquarters.
Banking Risk: Government Referee or Player?
In view of operations that can revolutionize Italian finance, there is nothing strange that the top management of the major banks and insurance companies inform and dialogue with the Government. But the point is another and that is that the role not only of referee but of player of the Government (see the endorsement for the climb of Mps, Caltagirone and Delfin a Mediobanca) inevitably makes the bankers' meetings at Palazzo Chigi or the Mef opaque and ambiguous. In spite of themselves, Orcel, Castagna, Donnet and Maioli did not go to Piazza Colonna and Via XX Settembre just to inform but to reassure the government that they have no hostile intentions and that the national interest, as well as the corporate one, is very present in their thoughts.
There is a risk that the Government will make a misuse of the Golden Power to put them on the defensive. What are the security problems that the Government is raising so as not to hinder the game of risk? So far, nobody has understood. But the fate of takeover bids should not be in the sole hands of the supervisory authorities (ECB in the lead) and of the market rather than politics? If this were really the case, we would have saved ourselves some embarrassing trips to Palazzo Chigi, but – as we had already seen with the mess made with the Capital bill - the government does not trust the market. And the danger of getting into trouble is always around the corner.
