Crédit Agricole and Bnp Paribas are a risk for Italy. The alarm from the center-right

14 January 20213 years ago babelfish

Enough shopping in Italy of banks and financial assets by the French credit groups Crédit Agricole and Bnp Paribas. This is what the center-right parliamentarians wish. All the details

Enough shopping in Italy of banks and financial assets by the French credit groups Crédit Agricole and Bnp Paribas.

This is what emerges from a document signed by over 80 parliamentarians from the three opposition parties – Lega, Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia – starting with Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d'Italia, and Giulio Centemero, treasurer of the Lega di Matteo Salvini.

The step in question can be found in the parliamentary motion that takes its cue from the recent operation concerning Borsa Italia (basically the complete document) which among other things mentions the fact that last June an undersecretary for the Economy and Finance would have had contacts with representatives of the Bnp Paribas and Credit Agricole groups to discuss the MPS issue and recalled that "banking and insurance services is the sector in which French investors are most present in Italy and the presence of the two big companies is considerable: Bnp Paribas controls Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, which is the seventh institute in terms of size, while in eighth place there is Credit Agricole Italia, which has implemented an integration strategy by taking control of Cariparma, Friuladria and Carispezia ". And who has now launched a takeover bid on Creval.

Bnp-Paribas and CreditAgricole are also among the main Italian consumer credit actors, highlight the center-right parliamentarians, respectively with Findomestic and Agos Ducato, and have "a pervasive presence in our public debt of which Bnp Paribas holds 143.2 billion euro, and Credit Agricole 97.2 billion ".

And therefore in this context, acquiring control of Monte Paschi di Siena "would allow great space for French finance, for example also through a strengthening of the partnership with Mediobanca, which is also financial advisor to Mps, within which the axis with institutions already in the hands of the French would be the main viaticum for the creation of a third banking center ”.

The opposition parliamentarians then recalled that Mediobanca, the third largest Italian banking group by capitalization, is "already 14% controlled by institutional investors of French origin and represents a coveted prey, because it gives access to control of Generali, and because, compared to the maximum price on 10 November 2019, also due to the Covid-19 emergency, is now worth just over half ".

For the entire Italian insurance and financial system, the independence and presence in Italy "of a leading international player such as Generali, the first Italian insurance company and third in Europe, with 500 billion euros of assets invested, of which approximately 60 billion in Italian treasury bonds, appears to be fundamental ”, reports the motion. According to which “French big finance has already said it is interested in the Italian economic heritage and Italy has not responded adequately in defense of national interests, despite the decree-law of 8 April 2020, n. 23, the so-called liquidity decree, has provided the Government with all the tools necessary for a concrete intervention in defense of the security of our strategic assets ".

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Motion of the Italian Stock Exchange

Unified text

The room,

given that:

Borsa Italiana SpA is the company that manages the Italian stock market and also includes MTS, the strategic market for government bonds, thus representing a very important asset for our country;

it should also be noted that Borsa Italiana SpA also manages a network of sensitive data relating to government bonds, as well as listed companies and thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises that have followed the Elite programs of Borsa Italiana SpA, for a total value of 3.5 billion euros;

on 23 June 2007, with an offer of 1.6 billion, the acquisition of Borsa Italiana SpA by London Stock Exchange Plc (the London Stock Exchange ) took place, creating the London Stock Exchange Group , a holding company that holds all the equity investments of Borsa Italiana SpA and the London Stock Exchange ;

following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the geopolitical context of reference has changed, since the London financial hub is no longer a community reality with repercussions also from an economic-financial point of view;

therefore, with reference to the developments on the future of Borsa Italiana SpA, it must be considered that the acquisition by the London Stock Exchange Group of the financial data dissemination group Refinitiv, the business unit that dealt with finance and risk business within of Thomson Reuters Corporation, a Canadian multinational operating in the media and information sector, has caused uncertainties regarding the fate of the Italian stock market, given the evident probability that the core business of the London Stock Exchange would have shifted from that of managing stock markets to data markets;

Therefore, timely action is necessary with reference to the affair of Borsa Italiana SpA considering that it represents a precious infrastructure on an economic-financial level, also in order to protect Italian small and medium-sized enterprises operating on the capital market and to protect the Electronic Market for Government Bonds (MTS);

it should be noted that the non-binding offers submitted for the purchase of Borsa Italiana were made by SIX Swiss Exchange, Deutsche Börse and, lastly, Euronext and all concerned the entire perimeter of the group put up for sale by the London Stock Exchange , consisting not only of the management of Borsa Italiana SpA stock lists, but also of the electronic market for MTS government securities and for the company Elite;

on 9 October 2020 the news of the conclusion of the agreement between the French-Dutch consortium based in Paris Euronext, whose main shareholder is the French Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and which already owns the Paris Stock Exchange, and the London Stock became official Exchange, for the purchase of the Italian Stock Exchange for about 4.3 billion euros, a much higher price than initially assumed – about 3 / 3.5 billion euros – and which would therefore increase the risk that the buyer, to justify the price paid to its shareholders (remember that more than 50% of the capital of Euronext, a listed company, is held by large Anglo-Saxon investment funds), decides to implement an even more aggressive cost cutting policy and typically to the detriment of the non-market domestic; the project envisages the entry into Euronext of CDP Equity and Intesa San Paolo with a subsequent capital increase with a commitment for the CDP alone of almost one billion euros;

as reported by a newspaper “if the sale of the Italian stock exchange had taken place through a competitive auction, with the participation of the Swiss and German stock exchanges, the valuation would have risen to 5 billion. We should therefore conclude, always assuming there were doubts, that the choice to sell to Euronext and not to others is entirely political. On the other hand, how could we even imagine that a decision of this type, even though it is suffered by the assessments of the London Stock Exchange , can take place without an agreement from the Italian government or in a hostile way ”;

in this regard, it is worth noting how the behavior of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in applying the steering powers provided for by the law appeared not entirely in line with the principles of transparency of the analysis of the functional integrity of the markets, services for intermediaries and savers and the real possibility of developing and attracting investments in Italian structures within the European financial markets, especially due to an apparent bias in favor of the French offer, which emerged from the early stages of the negotiation, and accrued in the absence of any in-depth analysis of the contents of the other offers being developed;

moreover, it should be noted that with respect to the sale of a company considered strategic for the national interest, such as Borsa Italiana, the Government has not considered in any way to inform Parliament; the sale of the Italian Stock Exchange to Euronext , despite the presence of other offers and in great silence, in fact, not only confirms the interest of France in these financial assets , but, on the contrary, raises concerns about their permanence in Italian hands;

in this regard, one of the issues to be addressed is certainly the future sale of Monte dei Paschi di Siena by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with respect to which "Il Sole 24 Ore" has hypothesized a work of moral suasion by the State for direct Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which remains the fifth largest Italian bank, despite the problems of recent years, towards Unicredit, but now there is also a growing interest from French finance in the purchase of Monte dei Paschi di Siena;

in particular, according to an authoritative newspaper, already in June 2020 an Undersecretary for the Economy and Finance would have had contacts with representatives of the Bnp Paribas and Credit Agricole groups to discuss the Monte dei Paschi issue;

banking and insurance services is the sector in which French investors are most present in Italy and the presence of the two big names is considerable: Bnp Paribas controls Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, which is the seventh largest institution, while in eighth place there is Credit Agricole Italia, which has implemented an integration strategy by taking control of Cariparma, Friuladria and Carispezia;

Bnp-Paribas and CreditAgricole are also among the main Italian consumer credit players, respectively with Findomestic and Agos Ducato, and have a pervasive presence in our public debt of which Bnp Paribas holds 143.2 billion euros, and Credit Agricole 97, 2 billion euros; in this context, acquiring control of Monte Paschi di Siena would allow great space for French finance, for example also through a strengthening of the partnership with Mediobanca, which is also financial advisor to Mps , within which the axis with the institutions already in the hands of the French it would be the main viaticum for the creation of a third banking center;

of French nationality, he is also the CEO of Unicredit, an institution for which a former Minister of Economy and Finance of the Democratic Party has just been co-opted into the board of directors and appointed as future president, a decision that took place while within the the company is discussing the hypothesis of the separation of the Italian and European branches of Unicredit, with the latter envisaging listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange;

the fact that said former Minister was elected in Siena and followed the "precautionary recapitalization" of Monte Paschi as Minister, in the opinion of the signatories of this deed, seems to herald a future rapprochement of Unicredit towards Mps, a news that if combined with that the creation of the unlisted subholding , into which the Italian assets that are subject to the volatility of the spread , which has just recently returned to circulate, are a cause for concern;

Mediobanca SpA, the third largest Italian banking group by capitalization, already controlled for 14% of the capital by institutional investors of French origin, is now a coveted "prey", because it gives access to control of Generali, and because, compared to the maximum price of 10 November 2019, also due to the Covid-19 emergency, today it is worth just over half;

for the entire Italian insurance and financial system, the independence and presence in Italy of a leading international player such as Generali, the first Italian insurance company and third in Europe, with 500 billion euros of assets invested, of which about 60 in Italian treasury bonds, it appears fundamental;

French big finance has already said that it is interested in the Italian economic heritage and Italy, in the opinion of the signatories of this policy act, has not responded adequately in defense of national interests, despite the decree-law of 8 April 2020, n. 23, the so-called liquidity decree, has provided the Government with all the tools necessary for a concrete intervention in defense of the security of our strategic assets ;

the decree-law has, in fact, modified the discipline of the special powers of the Government, the so-called golden power , extending it to the purchase for any reason of shareholdings in companies that hold assets and relationships related to the critical factors referred to in regulation (EU) 2019 / 452, including purchases of equity investments in the financial, credit and insurance sectors, and regardless of whether this is done in favor of an entity outside the European Union;

Article 8 of the draft of the decree of the President of the Council of Ministers implementing the new provisions governs the exercise of special powers for "assets and relationships in the financial sector", such as credit, finance, insurance, platforms and operational infrastructures such as Borsa spa, but also software , payment services, and investment management;

the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic defined the new rules envisaged by the "liquidity decree" on golden power as appreciable but "insufficient", precisely because of the fear of an incorrect entry by a French or even German bank into our financial system , through the purchase of decisive shares in the context of ongoing operations;

at the end of December 2019 about 33 percent of Italian debt was in the hands of foreign entities and, as reported in the report Foreign investors in Italian government debt by Unicredit, the "first investor country is France at 21 percent", whose credit institutions hold a share of € 285.5 billion of Italian public debt;

precisely in consideration of recent developments, it is therefore even more necessary in order to pursue the country's restart objectives and implement an investment plan that guarantees growth and development, avoiding the risk of loss of governance and autonomy in such a sector strategic and functional like that of the capital market;

as also raised by the Associazione Intermediari Mercati Finanziari (ASSOSIM) in an open letter published in the newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore", on September 26, 2020, this risk would result in the removal of issuers, investors and financial intermediaries active in the Italian Stock Exchange towards alternative markets, also not subject to regulation, and the financial intermediaries themselves "would find it necessary, due to the increase in costs and the decrease in revenues due to the lower liquidity of the regulated market, to devote less resources to equity research on SMEs "; research on these companies, in fact, currently guaranteed almost exclusively by Italian financial intermediaries, represents a fundamental element for the success of important innovations in favor of investors, such as alternative PIRs and ELTIFs;

the Italian banking system is further burdened by the risk reported by Alberto Nagel, CEO of Mediobanca, during a hearing before the Parliamentary Commission on the banking system, in which he highlighted the risks of the new European regulations on non-performing loans for our banking system;

on 1 January the new rules on bank default dictated by the EBA – European Banking Authority – the European Banking Authority (EBA / GL / 2016/07 and EBA / RTS / 2016/06) came into force, which introduces more restrictive thresholds and accentuates pro-cyclicality, increasing impaired loans;

the new European rules on credit will result in a further worsening of the capital situation of citizens and businesses, already hit hard by the pandemic and, ultimately, will have a very negative impact on the stability of the entire national economic system;

in this context, on the one hand, it is necessary to protect the national strategic assets that link the country's financial infrastructure to the growth of our companies. On the other hand, it is necessary to build an organic mosaic of reforms, started with the establishment of ordinary Individual Savings Plans (PIR), continued with alternative PIRs, with destined assets and which must be completed through the establishment of a public Sovereign Fund. Italian private sector, or Fondo dei Fund, which operates with private investment logics, like those applied to private asset management companies. A sovereign fund, managed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti with the involvement of Italian asset management companies and other financial institutions, in which in addition to private savings, public resources and the guarantee offered by public buildings and the artistic and cultural heritage of the Country, part of the resources that the European Union will make available to Italy with the Recovery Fund can also flow, becoming a long-term patient investment;

the foregoing, in the opinion of the signatories of this policy act, would represent the real leap in quality because with the full operation of the aforementioned fund, formed by public and private resources and also by a part of the Recovery Fund funds, it would be possible to support the capitalization businesses, to enable them to be more resilient to challenges and conquer international markets;

A renaming of the investment targets for which companies need time and patient and active long-term investors to intercept the new economic cycle has been underway for some time and this means that the form of growth financing more suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises, ours in particular, both equity and non-debt; the interaction of private markets with public markets will be stronger and stronger. In this scenario, Borsa Italiana Spa can become the tool for conveying private resources alternative to public debt and the new transmission belt of financial resources for the country to companies;

in this context, the lack of independent research on small and medium-sized listed companies was indicated by institutional investors as one of the first corrections needed to improve the Alternative Investment Market (Aim); after the introduction of the PIRs by the Government, which laid the foundations for improving the market on the liquidity front, it is necessary to develop independent research on small companies, to offer qualitative and quantitative information that improves knowledge of the business model by investors, generate greater liquidity of thinner stocks and improve pricing; the objectives of the coverage are linked to the need to generate greater liquidity of the securities and improve the formation of prices or valuation tool for listed securities, for PIR funds specialized on small-caps;

the tax credit on 50 percent of the consultancy costs incurred for the listing of small and medium-sized enterprises on the stock exchange facilitated the access of companies to the capital market, through the allocation of 80 million euros for admissions for the three-year period 2018- 2020, providing for a maximum amount of 500,000 euros per company, intended for small and medium-sized Italian companies according to the definition of the European Union, which are listed on regulated and non-regulated markets in Italy and in Europe,

in light of the foregoing, it seems more than ever necessary to increase the overall capitalization of Borsa Italiana, as shown by the comparison with other foreign exchanges where against a total capitalization of Borsa Italiana of 630 billion euros, the French Stock Exchange exceeds 2,500 billion, the German stock exchange 2,100 billion and the Spanish one 710 billion euros. The fiscal leverage was decisive to get the stock exchanges off the ground in other countries, demonstrating that in a moment of uncertainty like this, with zero and almost negative rates, only the tax advantage can move savings by directing them, through the stock exchange, towards businesses; for this reason we strongly reiterate our no to capital, and the importance, instead, of using the tax lever to incentivize savings to go to the real economy,

commits the Government,

1) in light of the affair of the sale of the Italian Stock Exchange and of the critical issues presented in the introduction, to take all the necessary initiatives to ensure the financial stability of Italy and our public securities, avoiding speculative attacks, and the safety of strategic assets , also through the correct and timely use of the rules on golden power ;

2) to protect the strategic economic-financial structure of Borsa Italiana SpA, as well as its autonomy, in every location and with every instrument of its competence, so that it is possible to implement the following commitments:

a) provision of an adequate long-term strategy in the area of technological innovation, which can be of greater benefit to the financial system as a whole than hypotheses and synergies that could only lead to a short-term profitability of the buyer;
b) guaranteeing the value and transparency of investors of small and medium-sized enterprises in equity research;
c) implementation of a process for simplifying the listing process, in particular for small and medium-sized companies, as well as developing a program such as ELITE and, in order to allow SMEs to increase their degree of financial awareness and access with greater ease of access to the capital market, preventing the services of this program from overlapping those already provided by financial intermediaries;
d) strengthening of the online market for government bonds (MTS), so that it continues to represent a center of excellence, capable of guaranteeing and improving monitoring and so-called " price equity " services – essential for efficient public debt management – with the aim of increasing trading liquidity and limiting price volatility;
e) ensure that in this transition phase there is supervision of the functions also at the operational level, guaranteeing the participation of local intermediaries in the various discussion tables to be held in the coming months;
f) evaluation of growth projects and investments for group companies;
g) identification of how the business functions of Borsa Italiana can grow and develop. To date, we are only talking about staff functions: finance and data center management. Functions that do not represent key elements for the growth of the Italian Stock Exchange and the development of related activities;
h) prevent cuts and rationalizations from damaging Italy;
i) to guarantee shareholders a non-exit from Euronext, given the rumors in the press according to which the foundations would evaluate a progressive disengagement, in the coming years, of Cdp from the new investments currently in progress, in order to avoid what happened in 2011 with Italian investors who they left LSEG;

3) considering that the framework described above, in the opinion of the signatories of this guideline, reveals a very questionable approach from the point of view of transparency and protection of national financial and credit assets , which does not seem to favor the interests of savers and companies, to urgently adopt initiatives, as far as they are concerned, in the appropriate European offices, in order to give a solution as soon as possible to the issue of bank non-performing loans and impaired loans, which represents a social and productive drama, allowing citizens and businesses redemption of one's debt, also in order to prevent them from falling prey to usurers, also supporting, as far as it is concerned, the credit flow from banks to companies, particularly important in a period of economic crisis like the current one resulting from the SARS-Cov pandemic -2;

4) to report to Parliament the reasons for the decision to deploy Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in the first instance and in relation to an offer without knowing the proposals of Six and Deutsche Börse, considering that CDP will invest almost a billion in the operation and that with a commitment it is essential to know the logic that led to the choice of Euronext;

5) to present the Euronext Investment Plan for Italy to Parliament detailing which requests the Government has made and how, to quote the words of the Prime Minister Conte, thanks to the operation "Milan will become the financial capital of European continent ";

6) to adopt initiatives of competence, including regulatory ones, to protect the national strategic assets that link the financial infrastructure of Borsa Italia Spa to the capitalization of companies, for the establishment of an Italian public-private Sovereign Fund, or Fondo dei Fund, that operates with private investment logics, like those applied to private asset management companies, issuing with the utmost speed the implementing decree of paragraph 18-ter of article 27 of decree-law no. 34 of 2020 (the so-called "Relaunch" decree) which constitutes the reference regulatory basis for the evolution of the assets destined for a fund aimed at supporting the country's economic growth, in compliance with the guidelines approved by Parliament on the identification of priorities in '' use of theRecovery Fund thanks to the strengthening of new forms of tax incentives for savings, in analogy with what is already provided for the Individual Savings Plans (PIR) to favor the capitalization of companies, reduce public debt, reduce tax pressure, promote employment, protect cultural heritage, protect and disseminate Made in Italy and, finally, avoid property tax;

7) to implement every initiative of competence, including legislation, aimed at enhancing the strategic structure of Borsa Italiana Spa by favoring the growth of Italian companies through the creation of a true European champion in the capital market which, consequently, strengthen Italy's role at a European and international level, making it stronger and more attractive also from the point of view of foreign investments on an economic and reputational level with the transfer of the financial capital of the European continent to Milan;

8) with a view to incentivizing the use of equity capital, to adopt any regulatory initiative aimed at the permanent extension of the so-called "Quotation Bonus" introduced by law no. 205 of 2017 providing for its extension to all companies that access the capital market and not only to companies that meet the requirements of small and medium-sized enterprises as defined by the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361 / EC of 6 May 2003, as well as to company subject to the Business Combination for transactions conducted by the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC);

9) to adopt every initiative, including legislation, aimed at promoting and spreading the culture of the capital market in order to allow an effective channeling of the liquidity of the funds, including PIR, with important repercussions on the relaunch of our country and on economic growth as well as on the quality of the financial structure of Italian companies.

Melons , Centemero , Giacomoni, Lollobrigida, Albano, Bellucci, Bignami, Bucalo, Butti, Caiata, Caretta, Ciaburro, Cirielli, Deidda, Delmastro delle Vedove, Donzelli, Ferro, Foti, Frassinetti, Galantino, Gemmato, Lucaselli, Mantovani, Male, Mollicone, Montaruli, Osnato, Prisco, Rampelli, Rizzetto, Rotelli, Silvestroni, Trancassini, Varchi, Zucconi, Molinari, Bitonci, Cantalamessa, Cavandoli, Covolo, Gerardi, Gusmeroli, Alessandro Pagano, Tarantino, Gelmini, Occhiuto, Brunetta, Porchietto, Pella , D'Ettore, Polidori, Baldini, Torromino, Della Frera, Versace, Saccani Jotti, Pittalis, Nevi, Mazzetti, Orsini, Pettarin, Giacometto, Maria Tripodi, Bergamini, Marin, Cannatelli, Dall'Osso, Palmieri, Rotondi, Tartaglione, Bagnasco, Labriola, Zangrillo, Vietina, Musella

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/credit-agricole-e-bnp-paribas-sono-un-rischio-per-litalia-lallarme-del-centrodestra/ on Thu, 14 Jan 2021 09:07:44 +0000.