Bank of Italy, the condemnation of Fazio, the turning point of Draghi and the hope of a succession without shocks

The first-instance sentence condemning the former governor of the Bank of Italy Antonio Fazio to four years for moral aid in the insider trading charged to the former banker of Popolare di Lodi, Giampiero Fiorani, for hidden round-up of shares on the occasion of the takeover 'Antonveneta is destined to leave its mark. Beyond the merits of the judgement, which can only be assessed after knowing the reasons for the sentence, the decision is certainly sensational, because it involves the former number one of the central bank, but not entirely unexpected. The errors made by Fazio were too serious: the first was that of having completely distorted the role of the Bank of Italy, transforming himself from referee into player; the second was to have violated the rules of the market; the third to have entrusted himself to a banker who was already much discussed like Fiorani. That Fazio now justifies himself by claiming that he was only doing good can also be humanly understandable, but it doesn't change one iota the distortion of reality, carried out not only to defend a questionable Italian character of the banks but above all to arbitrarily centralize in him all the power to shape the Italian banking system at will. Being Italian was certainly an obsession of Fazio's but an unfounded and very badly managed obsession: what else to say about the incomprehensible thumbs down of the former Governor at the two takeover bids launched by Unicredit on Comit and by Sanpaolo on the Banca di Roma? On that occasion the Italian nature of the banks was not at stake but only the arbitrary power of the number one on via Nazionale.
As often happens in life, the smart ones can also prevail in the short term but they always pay off in the long run. And so it is for all the colorful tour company that supported Fazio in his plan of omnipotence. But the ruling also has another value and says that press campaigns, when inspired by the general interest, bite in the end and that very often the judiciary knows how to do his job. The sentence also erases the doubts, cultivated for too long, of those who mistakenly thought that by placing Fazio in the dock the credibility of the Bank of Italy itself would be undermined. The opposite is true: a bad apple does not question the institution and Fazio's exit from the scene paved the way for Mario Draghi, one of the best governors of via Nazionale, whose work now deserves to be continued without shocks by the team that has accompanied its success and the renovating turn, even at the cost - when needed - of pulling the ears of our banks, which will have to come to terms with it.