Sparks at the parliamentary commission of inquiry into banks during the hearing of the director general of the Treasury, Vincenzo La Via, on the subject of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, of which until a few days ago it seemed he could even become the president.
La Via began by answering the questions of the commission - led by Pierferdinando Casini - on the Government's participation in the institute's capital: "the public intervention in the capital of MPS is in any case of a temporary nature and the shareholder Ministry will have to sell the acquired participation (68 % of capital) within the reference period of the Plan, i.e. within 5 years"
"For the determination of the price of the newly issued ordinary shares to be assigned in conversion and of the subscription price by the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, - said La Via - it was necessary to calculate the value of the Bank's shares before of the capital increase, on the basis of the provisions of the decree law".
Holders of subordinated financial instruments received new shares at a unit price of €8,65. The subscription price of the share capital increase for the Ministry was, on the other hand, equal to 6,49 Euros per share, calculated by applying the calculation methods referred to in the Annex to the decree law.
The estimate of the value of the shares already issued was drawn up by the consultancy company Pwc and sworn by the independent expert appointed by the Bank of Italy.
Once the intervention on the Government's future commitments was concluded, the General Manager of the Treasury began answering questions on the reconstruction of the facts of the MPF crisis. La Via declared that the Mef warned the MPS Foundation "about the serious risks" associated with the 2011 capital increase, urging Rocca Salimbeni to implement a "strategy" to reduce the share and its concentration.
La Via recalled that the MEF is responsible for supervising the legitimacy and not the merits, since the Ministry cannot replace the bodies of the foundation which are responsible for the investments.
However, part of the Commission showed impatience during La Via's intervention on the facts at the time of the crisis, impatience for which Pierferdinando Casini spoke, admonishing the general manager for being too reticent
