The Arbitrator for financial disputes (ACF), set up by Consob, has opened up the possibility of requesting reimbursements for the shareholders of the four banks placed under resolution (Banca Marche, Etruria and CariChieti and Carife). The first three institutes were taken over by where while the latter was incorporated by Bper.
When the resolution of the four banks in Central Italy was reached in 2015, a total shield was not created for the two purchasing institutions, Ubi and Bper, which, according to what emerges from the principle published by the Consob Arbitrator, may be called to compensate the potential customers of the four banks who claim damages deriving from the investment services received before the transfer operation.
However, Ubi and Bper ran away from legal risks. The contract signed with the Resolution fund provides precise guarantees. As far as the Brescia institute is concerned, the Fund has committed itself up to a maximum of 250 million euros of potential risk against current or future legal disputes, up to 280 million against possible disputes deriving from shareholders of the three merged banks. In addition, guarantees are also envisaged to cover the risk linked to the indemnity of the previous subordinated retail bondholders.
The Fund has also offered similar guarantees to Bper, with different figures compared to Ubi, taking into account the fact that the institute has only absorbed Carife. Guarantees of up to 15 million for risk of legal disputes, up to 150 million for possible disputes by former shareholders and former subordinated bondholders, and guarantees to cover the risk linked to the compensation of the retail subordinated bondholders of the Ferrara institute.
The decisions of the Consob institute concern the appeals presented by former customers of Banca Marche. According to the Abf panel, led by Gianpaolo Barbuzi, decree 180 of 2015 eliminated shareholders and bondholders through the resolution "but also claims (compensation or otherwise) relating to contractual relationships between the customer and the intermediary for the provision cannot be considered incorporated in it of investment services.
These relations are therefore transferred as a unit from the old (Banca Marche) to the new bank (Ubi), in order to preserve the business continuity of the banking company.
According to the Acf Board, "the bank's customers to whom the latter has placed its own issued shares by engaging in conduct that violates the reference regulatory framework on the provision of investment services, just as they could have made claims for compensation against the old bank, in the same way they are legitimated to proceed in this sense also against Ubi, which took over without solutions of continuity in the active and passive legal situations ".
In the first case decided by the Board relating to Banca Marche, Ubi was ordered to pay 861,26 euros to the recurring customers of the institution in the Marches within thirty days.
However, it should be remembered that the decisions of the Consob Arbitrator are not theoretically binding, but given the last year of operation of the body, the intermediaries concerned will adapt to the decisions taken.
The shareholders of the four resolved banks can retaliate on the new ones ended by Ubi and Bper. According to the Consob arbitrator for financial disputes, institutions must demonstrate that they have given correct information. The decisions are case by case and not binding. Last word to the courts
