Mps, Banco Bpm and more, how will banking risk go?
Extract from the report by Emilio Contrasto, Unisin general secretary, given during the Unisin congress
In recent years we have witnessed cases of crisis in banking institutions, in which among the factors of bailout in the name of protecting jobs and customer savings, we can include the public hand (sometimes direct as in the case of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, sometimes indirect, as in the case of Banca Popolare di Bari, other times with specific regulatory interventions) but above all the concrete and effective intervention of the Sector (through, for example, the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund and the acquisition by healthy banks of realities in crisis) and trade union organizations. In fact, in all cases, the responsible contribution of the trade unions was decisive in identifying the actions and measures, also referred to a necessary spirit of sacrifice, to revive the fortunes of these companies and relaunch their action so that a stable future could be guaranteed to those who work there.
Also in all these cases, the role of the trade unions and the sense of responsibility of the workers were decisive for safeguarding employment and protecting the interests of customers. There are also cases that have caused scandal such as the diamond issue or the so-called "kissed" operations (a practice by which some banks have led customers to purchase their shares, providing them with the necessary funding for this purpose through loans ad hoc), in which not only the workers were also often victims of such reprehensible management behaviors aimed at maximizing profit but they found themselves facing, often in the courtrooms, responsibilities attributable only to managerial choices. Our task is to protect these workers, in the workplace but also in the management of the consequences of such situations not attributable to them. Still not fully resolved are some of these crises: Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which has been waiting for years for the new industrial plan, aimed at the definitive overcoming of the crisis and the relaunch of the oldest bank in the world, even though it has never yet seen the old fully implemented and which still sees the Ministry of Economy and Finance as the main shareholder.
Also on Mps it should be remembered that the hypothesis of acquisition by Unicredit vanished when it had almost reached the finish line and the recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Milan which acquitted the former top management of the bank of the accusations made against them. Once again, in the end, it was the workers of the Group, the customers and the whole community who paid, for faults not theirs, who took charge, through the Mef , of making up for the chasms caused by past management ; Banca Popolare di Bari, now integrated into the MCC Medio Credito Centrale Group, still suffers and we continue to believe that the "Banca del Mezzogiorno" project – which characterized the rescue operation carried out with the appropriate decree and also ensured by a delicate how hard trade union agreement – must be carried out so as not to frustrate the sacrifice made by the workers. Also in this case, it should be remembered, the involvement of the National and General Secretariats was decisive in identifying a solution which, albeit painful, allowed us to look ahead; on CA.RI.GE., the recent acquisition by Banca Popolare dell'Emilia-Romagna should finally leave the crisis behind for good. The aggregation processes also restarted, about two years ago, with the public purchase and exchange offer of Intesa Sanpaolo on UBI and the simultaneous contribution of over 500 branches to BPER and Banca Popolare di Puglia and Basilicata: once again, the role of the trade union organizations, with the various levels involved, was decisive for the success of the harmonization processes that are necessary in these cases. What in journalistic jargon is defined as "banking risk" clearly remains in place.
After Unicredit / Mps' stalemate, a flash was represented by the acquisition of Creval by Credit Agricole Italia and the French company, in recent weeks, has moved with important share acquisitions on Banco BPM. It is evident that the reform of the Popolari also contributed to this, forcing and accelerating the consolidation process which still meets some residual resistance. It is also essential to continue to guarantee the generation turnover among the workers who choose to leave the production process and the new entries of young forces who will have to take their place. Our Sector, also in this area, has identified tools and rules that allow the turnover and renewal of the sector, taking on it in economic terms (for example, the income support fund and the employment fund). These tools must be confirmed and remain the only ones that can be used in the Sector. It remains necessary to always guarantee stable forms of recruitment, avoiding all forms of instability and / or precarious work and, therefore, without resorting to tools that reduce the protections identified by law, in the national contract and in second-level bargaining. In this regard, we like to remember that, thanks to the agreements defined between the five Credit Organizations, ABI and Groups / Companies, today our Sector is characterized by the highest presence of stable employment contracts at the national economic system level, as well as by the being the only sector that has carried out and continues to carry out an important number of new hires of young workers. Also with regard to safety in the workplace, it will be necessary to continue with the assessment of specific risks and in the search for the best solutions aimed at preventing all those situations that may cause harm or jeopardize the safety of workers in the workplace. Starting from the risk of robbery up to the management of attacks, including physical ones, against colleagues during these years of pandemic or as a result of the scandals that have involved the sector and of which, as mentioned, the same colleagues have often also been they victims. Apart from this, attention must be paid to the issue of work-related stress which in a subtle, silent and widespread way affects colleagues more and more and whose effects emerge even after some time. A widespread and widespread monitoring of this phenomenon must be a must for both the trade union and the companies.
We must have the ambition to face many challenges, such as the participation of workers and the enhancement of the role of workers' representatives in the life of companies. A debate and a comparison must be opened on this: many models exist and must be investigated. We must put an end to the perverse system of socialization of losses and privatization of profits that has established itself in society and in our sector. Workers – we have seen this in numerous cases and in many groups – are always called upon to do their part when it comes to making sacrifices to save companies, safeguard employment, avoid crises or get out of them. And they have always done their part, thanks to the active and responsible contribution of the Union. Then, however, when things go well, the distribution of profits rewards almost exclusively the shareholders and the highest levels of management. And the division of a few crumbs is often left only to the convoluted incentive mechanisms which, being almost always of a unilateral matrix on the part of the company, tend to reward mainly commercial production, generating dangerous effects in terms of commercial pressures and not enhancing the quality of the service. , nor the indirect contribution of many support activities.
We are not, here and now, proposing dual or co-management models but, we repeat, it is time to open a table on the subject. Just as it is necessary to rediscover and reaffirm the role and weight of egalitarian and democratic rewarding institutions which, by their nature, ensure recognition for all for the guaranteed contribution to the success of the company. It is not plausible, indeed it is deleterious in the long term, to continue to have incentive, rewarding, discretionary systems that recognize, only to some and increasingly with the role, economic bonuses that are unbalanced with respect to the contractual salary. These mechanisms are short-sighted and tend to focus only on the immediate and very short-term result, rather than focusing on those consolidated and structured over time. And too often, they generate controversial situations that must absolutely be avoided.
A reflection by the journalist Carlotta Scozzari, albeit referring only to the top management, can help to summarize the current situation: in 2021 the CEOs of the six main banking groups received a total of over 19 million, on average 3.17 million each: 54 times the average salaries of employees of the banking groups where they work.
Our concept of fairness certainly does not want not to recognize the best professionals or compromise the search and recruitment of so-called "talents" but the wage imbalance present today is not justified and must also be corrected in the light of the considerations set out so far. The professionalism of the banking work is an incontrovertible fact and must be recognized through a certain and guaranteed regulatory framework and rewarded through an adequate economic recognition substantially "rain" that breaks down the differential present today between what is perceived by the Professional Areas and by the Management to top management.
At this point, a reference to the sore point, to the always open wound, represented by commercial pressures and by all those undue, unbearable solicitations, made up of continuous and repeated calls to production – often with unacceptable tones, always pushing higher and higher – is inevitable. the bar of objectives – of sales forecasts, of agendas continuously checked and never sufficiently full, of emails, messages and phone calls at all hours, not only during the day, and how much they can still continue to invent to amaze us.
The 2017 protocol, included in the latest CCNL, as well as the numerous agreements on the subject in groups and companies, represent a fundamental result and a very important achievement in terms of affirmation of values and principles but cannot be thwarted or disavowed by acting newspaper, often of an individual nature, which, in almost all companies in the sector, sees the malpractice of reiterating undisturbed. The Sector commission, to date, has only been invested in one case and we do not know that the company and group commissions are able to obtain more tangible results. Certain mechanisms probably need to be reviewed but, above all, we need to act on the managerial culture and this responsibility is called by the leaders of the Association of Banks and companies / groups who cannot pretend not to know what happens every day or be amazed when striking cases come to light. On this aspect, as mentioned, ABI must play its role and demand compliance with those rules that we have built together, also to protect the reputation of the Sector itself.
We recall, again on the subject of commercial pressures, that on 17 May Unisin, together with the other credit organizations, participated in a hearing at the parliamentary commission of inquiry on the banking and financial system chaired by the honorable Carla Ruocco. At that time, we reiterated our proposal to entrust to a specific body, perhaps to be identified within the central banks of each individual State, regulated at European level to avoid differences between the various States of the Union, with the aim of certify, independently from Banks and other intermediaries, the customer profiles (so-called questionnaires) drawn up in application of the MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) regulation which, as is known, has the specific dual purpose of guaranteeing greater investor protection and better transparency of the financial markets.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/mps-banco-bpm-e-non-solo-come-andra-il-risiko-bancario/ on Wed, 25 May 2022 08:42:24 +0000.