Minimum duration one month, maximum maturity 5 years: are the news concerning the financial bill. The Montecitorio Finance Commission has finalized the text that unifies two bills with the aim of improving the usability of these instruments, considered alternative means of financing to the normal channels of capital procurement.
The new text also expands the entities authorized to issue financial bills. In fact, joint-stock companies as well as cooperatives and mutual insurance companies are also included, subject to the presence of the following requisites: a) the issue must be assisted, as sponsor, by a bank or an investment firm, also having its registered office in a non-EU country, provided that it has a branch established in the territory of the Republic, which collaborates with the issuer in the procedure for issuing the securities; b) the sponsor must maintain in its portfolio, until the natural maturity, a not lesser portion of the securities issued: 5 per cent of the issue value of the securities, for issues up to 5 million euro; 3 per cent of the issue value exceeding 5 million euro, up to 10 million euro, in addition to the portion resulting from the application of the above percentage; 2 per cent of the issue value exceeding 10 million euros, in addition to the portion resulting from the application of the percentages of the first two cases.
Financial bills can be issued by companies and entities that do not have securities traded on regulated or unregulated markets provided that the latest balance sheet has been certified by an auditor or an auditing firm entered in the register of auditors.
Among the novelties, also the possibility of being able to issue bills in dematerialized form. The commission has set the deadline for the presentation of the amendments to the unified text at 14 pm on next Monday, March 19.
