Banca Carige, troubles ahead for Fiorentino?
The former CEO of Banca Carige, Paolo Fiorentino, is being investigated for manipulation by the Milan prosecutor's office in relation to the 2018 half-year report. All the details in the article by Emanuela Rossi
News from Carige. The former CEO of the Ligurian bank, Paolo Fiorentino, is being investigated for manipulation by the Milan prosecutor's office in relation to the half-yearly report of 2018. The news was given by Ansa according to which investigators are also investigating a complaint from first shareholder and former vice president, Vittorio Malacalza , regarding the work of the former extraordinary commissioners of the bank Fabio Innocenzi, Pietro Modiano and Raffaele Lener. "These are old events and I remain peacefully at the disposal of the judiciary" was the comment of Fiorentino reported by the press . The manager is clear: “I have always acted with the utmost transparency”.
THE INVESTIGATION FOR ADJUSTMENT ON FIORENTINO PER CARIGE
At the moment, as Ansa explained, the prosecutor Paolo Filippini, who is the owner of the file together with the adjunct Maurizio Romanelli, is waiting for a final report from the special currency police unit of the Guardia di Finanza which is ending the investigation against not only Fiorentino but also the person then responsible for keeping the accounting records. As mentioned, the investigators are also examining a complaint from Malacalza, the first shareholder of Carige until the 2019 capital increase, who had already presented a complaint also in the half-year report. The new complaint concerns the work of the bank's former extraordinary commissioners, Fabio Innocenzi, Pietro Modiano and Raffaele Lener, in office between 2019 and January 2020 , when the commissioner management ended.
Il Sole 24 Ore recalls the Milanese survey on Carige's 2018 half-year report, concerned the alleged failure to communicate to the market the need to devalue the bank's bad debts by hundreds of millions. Between April and August 2018 there was an inspection by the ECB and later Carige implemented credit adjustments in the accounts of the first nine months of 2018 for over 219 million. For this reason, CEO Fabio Innocenzi – who in the meantime took over from Fiorentino – had decided to approve a capital increase of 400 million. On that occasion, for the first time, the Fitd intervened, subscribing a subordinated bond of 320 million to be converted later in the capital increase. However, on 22 December of the same year the shareholders' meeting said no to the recapitalization given the abstention of the Malacalza family, which asked for further information. The rest is history: commissioner by Frankfurt on 2 January 2019, recapitalization – which rose to 700 million (plus 200 of bonds) – approved in September and carried out in December, with the support not only of the Fitd but also of the central bank (8 , 3%), parent company together with Iccrea delle Bcc.
BANCA CARIGE RESULTS AT 30 JUNE 2018
The half-year subject of so much attention had undoubtedly questionable numbers: operating loss of 20.5 million (in any case better than -158.4 million at 31 December 2017), pre-tax result in the red for 53.7 million, net operating margin down by 41.4 million. In particular, between the first and second quarter of the year there was a decrease from a profit of 6.4 million to a loss of 26.6 million, the pre-tax result from -4.5 million to -49.2 million , the net operating margin from +4.6 million to -46 million. It is worth mentioning the higher provisions for risks and charges for indemnities and penalties (23.1 million net) claimed by Amissima, the insurance company established within the banking group. In the 2016-2018 financial years the items prudently set aside for Amissima amounted to approximately 67 million.
WHAT IS HAPPENING AT BANCA CARIGE
Meanwhile, for Carige, as La Repubblica notes, the days are full of appointments. Yesterday the assembly appointed Giuseppe Boccuzzi as president, former general manager of the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund and previously for 20 years in the Bank of Italy, in place of the late Vincenzo Calandra Buonaura, and vice president Paolo Ravà, president of the order of accountants of Genoa. Today, however, the board of directors will have to begin examining the 2020 financial statements which will then be approved on 10 March by the board and on 20 April by the shareholders' meeting. The newspaper directed by Maurizio Molinari notes that for the Ligurian bank this is the first budget approved after the commissioner which was followed, a year ago, by the entry into the capital of the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund (together with the voluntary Scheme) and Cassa Central Bank.
The accounts, however, "are essential not only to understand the performance of the bank, but to lay the foundations for the return of the share to trading on the Stock Exchange, where it has been suspended since January 2019". In the meantime, Carige has given a mandate to the BonelliErede firm to prepare the prospectus to be submitted to Consob to return to trading, something that could happen as early as June.
Then there is the question of the "potential relay" between the Fund and Ccb which owns 8.3% of Carige paid 65 million in 2019. Cassa's option to take over 80% in the hands of the Fund expires at the end 2021 "but a first window closes in June and, in any case, the parties have given themselves a much shorter time to reach a fixed point, as the CEO of the Cassa, Mario Sartori indirectly confirmed, yesterday in a meeting with labor unions". Away from the spotlight, La Repubblica asserts, the parties are working. “The point is that the buy option was decided in the distant past (like everything that happened before the pandemic) and Ccb reasonably wants a discount on the price back then. Not to mention that perhaps from the very first moment the enthusiasm of the Trentino group leader may not have been at its zenith ”, writes the newspaper.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/banca-carige-guai-in-vista-per-fiorentino/ on Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:31:28 +0000.