The rescue of Monte dei Paschi di
Siena is "an extremely important element for the bank and the
Italian banking system and a further turning point after last
week's deal on the Veneto banks," Economy Minister Pier Carlo
Padoan said after the EU gave its OK to MPS's precautionary
recapitalisation.
"It's a plan that gives certainties, a sustainable timeframe
for the bank which will have a very important level of capital".
The Treasury will have a 70% stake in MPS after the bank's
precautionary recapitalisation, Padoan said Tuesday.
Ministry official Alessandro Rivera said the operation
will be 8.1 billion overall and the Treasury will underwrite a
3.9 billion hike by the end of July, while 1.5 billion will be
used to buy back junior bonds in the autumn after burden sharing
has been applied, for a final disbursement of 5.3 billion euros.
The restructuring plan "gives certainties" and "a credible
horizon" for the bank which will have "an important level of
capital and will shed almost all its non-performing loans, for a
gross value of more than 28 billion euros, by the first half of
2018", Padoan said.
The MPS rescue has enabled Italy "not to offload the cost of
bail-outs onto taxpayers," Padoan said, by envisaging a "limited
use" of public resources.
Padoan said he was "confident public money will not only be
recovered, but there will also be a bonus" as Monte dei Paschi
di Siena improves over the years following its rescue.
Padoan said he had the "utmost confidence" in the current top
management of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, when asked if they will
be confirmed.
The rescue ends "an 'annus horribilis', which started in June
of last year with the stress test, we had the total awareness we
were at the epicentre of the Italian, and not only Italian,
banking crisis", MPS President Alessandro Falciai said, vowing
that "the bank will be very flourishing" and "among the most
solid in the EU".
There will be no firings in the restructuring of MPS, CEO
Marco Morelli said.
The State will exit the bank's capital in 2021, Falciai said.
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