11.37 DRAGHI, IN BASEL 3 NO TIGHTENING FOR SMEs
11.31 DRAGHI, FOR BASEL 3 ITALIAN BANKS HALFWAY: “Currently the capital strengthening needs of the Italian banking system to meet the new Basel 2019 capital requirements by 3, which had been estimated at 2010 billion for June 40, are around 20 billion. We're on the right path".
11.25 DRAGHI, GOVERNMENT CLARIFIES THE MEASURES FOR THE EQUAL: "Having anticipated the usual deadlines, it is necessary to define very quickly the content of the further measures aimed at achieving a balanced budget in 2014".
11.22 DRAGHI, ITALIAN BANKS WILL PASS STRESS TEST: “We insisted that the banks carry out capital increases in a timely manner. Not only due to the need to gradually adapt to new international standards but because the situation today requires it. The answer is strong and proved the skeptics wrong. The shareholders, including the major national institutions, were able to see the need for intervention. Since the beginning of the year, Italian banks have decided or carried out large capital increases. The banks have prepared in time, as we had requested for the European stress tests, the results of which will be released in a few days. We are certain that they will be well above the reference limit, equal to 5% of the core tier I ratio”.
11.20 DRAGHI, BETTER CAPITALIZED ITALIAN BANKS
11.16 DRAGONS, IF YOU DON'T MAKE THE CUTS, AN UNAVOIDABLE TAX INCREASE: "If we do not also affect other expenditure items, recourse to the tax and welfare delegation to complete the maneuver in 2013-2014 will not, however, be able to avoid a tax increase".
11.15 DRAGONS, EVEN MORE ESSENTIAL REFORMS: “Those structural reforms that have been invoked for years are even more essential today. For years the cost of credit in the various parts of the euro area has not deviated significantly from that prevailing in Germany. The spreads on sovereign bonds with respect to the German Bund remained modest for a long time and the rates applied by the banks reflected the credibility enjoyed by the public bonds of the euro countries", but today "it is not and will no longer be the case: the solvency of sovereign states is no longer an acquired fact but must be earned on the ground with high and sustainable growth, possible only with the accounts in order". And the cost of credit "reflects this new condition today: it is higher for low-growth countries with weak public finances". Therefore “the loan of credibility granted by the strongest countries in the euro area has expired: we will have to grow without taking this into account. Those invoked structural reforms are even more essential today”.
11.00 ABI TO THE GOVERNMENT: "REMOVING THE OBSTACLES TO GROWTH"
10.42 MUSSARI, ONLY ONE PROPOSAL FOR BASEL 3: ”We all presented ourselves together, ABI, Confindustria, Cooperatives, Rete Imprese Italia in Brussels, Commissioner Barnier was surprised by this unity of purpose. The rules of the Basel Committee must take into account the need not to penalize small and medium-sized enterprises and sterilize the quantitative increase in capital envisaged by Basel 3”.
10.39 MUSSARI, SALARY INCREASES IN THE CREDIT SECTOR ONLY IF PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES: "We want to reiterate the political sense of the position we intend to adopt in view of the arrival of the negotiations for the renewal of the contract: the situation and prospects of the banks' income statements allow for any wage increases to be linked only and exclusively to real improvements in productivity, it being understood that probably the entire architecture of the contract requires a great effort of innovation and regulatory maintenance”.
10.32 MUSSARI, SURGERY BTP-BUND SPREAD IS A SERIOUS SIGNAL: “in recent days the Btp-Bund differential has even exceeded 320 basis points, as it had never happened since the creation of the single currency. It is a serious sign despite the fact that our country has been able to control public finance flows better than others. A speculative dimension is not lacking in all of this, also favored by the role of certain market protagonists who produce information and by certain financial instruments. The state of prolonged turbulence damages economic activity, undermines the prospects for recovery, creates difficulties for those who, such as banks, operate on the markets to support businesses and the economy. It requires all of us to give clear signals of strength and stability. It recalls the urgency of public finance action”.
10.31 MUSSARI, ITALIAN BANKS WILL PASS THE STRESS TESTS: “We appreciated Governor Draghi's words on Italian banks. We are proud of our solidity, which is also the result of rigorous supervision by the Bank of Italy. We are confident in passing the stress tests. We know that even once the stress tests pass, our results will be subject to severe scrutiny. We don't fear it but we demand identical parameters of evaluation and judgment for our competitors and that the level of the game plan is made public for all participants".
10.30 A standing ovation. This is how the Governor of Bank of Italy Mario Draghi was received this morning at the annual meeting of the Italian Banking Association (ABI). The designated president of the European Central Bank is one of the guests of honor at an appointment that promises to be full of topical insights. Not only for what Draghi could say on the crisis in the peripheral countries of the Euro area and on Italy in particular, but also for the presence of Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti at his first public appearance after his hasty return from Brussels yesterday and the reopening of dialogue with the opposition have brought the appointment with the launch of the maneuver closer and given new impetus to the markets after Black Monday. Naturally, among the most awaited speakers of the day was also the president of ABI Giuseppe Mussari who first wanted to send a reassuring message to the markets, saying that "Italian banks will pass the stress tests" and that "a table anti-crisis with the social partners”. Mussari also explained that "foundations are the ideal partners of banks" and that "loans to households and businesses are growing".
