Accounts and repayments today for the Banca Popolare di Vicenza and for Veneto Banca, expected from another crucial week, squeezed as they are by the grip of the EU and the ECB but also by investors, savers and customers on the run. Today the Board of Veneto Bank will officially reveal the losses of 2016, which will exceed one billion euros even if they will probably be less than those of the People of Vicenza, which came to a loss of 1,9 billion.
And today the Treasury must respond to the findings and the requests for clarification from the EU Antitrust on the reimbursements foreseen to shareholders for previous losses. The green light to thecapital increase and the consequent state intervention in the rescue of the two Venetian banks which will then proceed towards the fusion, seen as the last resort to avoid the gauntlet of the bail-in which would further aggravate the social tragedies of businesses and households that had invested in shares or subordinated bonds of Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.
But before getting to the recapitalization and merger there is another test that the two Veneto banks must pass: that of the ECB, which must rule on their solvency. In short, an obstacle course that never seems to end, but whose days are numbered because investors and customers are fleeing and Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca are now short of liquidity. In a few weeks, if the ordeal does not end, the two institutions risk not even having the money to pay salaries and to carry on normal banking activities.
