The Bank of Italy has called for greater powers of intervention as it seeks to stem criticism of its supervision of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank, which is at the centre of a derivatives scandal.
“When a lender is in a situation of crisis, the Bank of Italy can ask shareholders to change management but it can’t overrule their decision,” said Ignazio Visco, the Bank of Italy’s governor, in prepared remarks to a banking convention on Saturday.
Regulators “must be able to intervene in cases where, on the basis of established evidence, they see fit to oppose the appointment of managers or remove them”.
Monte Paschi, one of Europe’s most weakly capitalised lenders, is due to receive €3.9 billion of taxpayer money in bailout bonds this month.
– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013)