Not just Mps. What the parties say and do not say in the electoral campaign
From MPS to European banking rules, passing from non-repayable money from credit institutions. All credit dossiers not yet debated in the election campaign. The speech by Lando Maria Sileoni, secretary of Fabi
On MF-Milano Finanza Angelo De Mattia has opened a debate that deserves to be deepened. The topic in question is represented by the vision that the parties have, in the electoral campaign and therefore in their respective programs, of the banking sector. De Mattia underlined the importance of the existence of a thought of the Italian parties with respect to the European rules on banking and finance, to the regulation of the banking sector by the Single Supervisory Authority and the authorities such as Eba, Esma, Eiopa and the relationship between these bodies and the European Commission also with respect to strategic and fundamental issues such as bail-in or the assumptions of a bank's default.
In summary, De Mattia asks the parties if they will want to play a leading role on these topics or if they will instead attend without intervening, as substantially, in my opinion, they have done up to now. Previously, on August 9, ABI president Antonio Patuelli addressed political parties and parliamentary committees asking for an intervention aimed at "removing structural constraints and activating clear and stable economic policies". An initiative, that of the major representative of the Italian banking sector, which aims to spur the new government towards precise objectives and results.
De Mattia's analysis is impeccable, Patuelli's requests are impeccable. However, the attitude of political parties should be deepened, which for years have left the field completely free both to European banking regulators and to Italian banking groups, which, compared to the same parties, now operate with evident superiority and autonomy, systematically filling and occupying every kind of space possible.
This applies to large groups but also to small local banks, which are the masters in the territories. Therefore, the whining of local politicians becomes laughable and useless when they complain about the closure of branches in their municipalities, all virtual complaints and words, and at the same time they do not hesitate to ask for sponsorship of events and institutions of all kinds to the same banks that have closed branches.
In the electoral programs, for example, the parties make no mention of the near future of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, owned by the state, as if the affair of the Sienese bank did not interest them much. Just as they have never taken a position, concretely and in fact, with respect to the reform of popular banks and cooperative credit banks, criticized several times by the same parties. The fact that Italian banks are private companies does not even remotely justify the absence of a vision or a proposal, which the parties should have included in their electoral programs, with respect to the near future of the Italian banking sector.
In short, the eternal struggle between finance and politics, which arose in the so-called First Republic, is today all to the advantage of finance. Indeed, I would dare to say that there is no match. It is a historical fact that in the times of Andreotti, Craxi and Berlinguer the banks did not touch the ball. One wonders how it was possible to arrive at this current, unacceptable situation. The answer is all contained in one word: money, which is used in every possible form (and legally lawful, mind you): for sponsorships in the sports and artistic fields, for more or less non-repayable contributions; for financing to organizations, associations, foundations, cultural clubs; to finance the sites of some personalities considered opinion leaders and the study centers of some associations; or to sponsor the websites of some political leaders; or, again, to sponsor those sites that are then used to hit the enemies on duty. The watchword and the essential condition is that there is a guaranteed return.
In short, the money was used for a systematic occupation of all those spaces, many, deliberately or indirectly left free by national party politics, very careful not to step on the feet of important banking groups. We would be scandalized if there were not the awareness that we live in Italy and not in a country in Northern Europe, where these initiatives would not be tolerated.
A change of pace is therefore needed. Loans and non-repayable support from banks is an issue that should be addressed, introducing principles aimed at creating a clear distinction, also because every form of financing does not weigh on the pockets of bank representatives but comes from customer deposits. The loans of banks to hospitals and research institutions, not only scientific, to universities and, more generally, to charities are meritorious: in short, the active role of banks in the social field is important and crucial for the whole country .
Initiatives, sometimes opaque, which lead the banks themselves to behave like an ATM available to everyone, giving money, both nationally and locally, for political initiatives should be censored, even when it comes to associations that only apparently they do not play a party role. Here the managerial capacity of the top management or the heads of external relations is not called into question: they serve the interests of the banks, from a professional point of view, and those of the shareholders. What is disconcerting is the absence of most of the political parties and their representatives, who have virtually always dealt with a sector, such as banking, which can procure electoral consensus, but in fact willingly and willingly undergoes its decisions.
All this is inadmissible and finds no justification. After all, banks handle customer money, household savings, corporate funds: resources which, as required by the Constitution, should be managed with scrupulousness and true social responsibility, while unfortunately they are also used to heavily influence parties, which in fact they renounce to freely exercise their political role. Here, too, dozens of examples could be cited, but to give a good idea I recall one: an important banking group has for decades sponsored, with important figures, a very well-known vintage car event that went around Italy, reserved for very few elected, over seventy accompanied on their tour by beautiful young women made available by the organization. Then it turned out that among the organizers there were people who sat on the board of directors of that bank and that they represented an important electoral basin for political candidates in the territories. And I could go on with other examples.
In the relationship between finance and politics, therefore, the balances are all unbalanced in favor of the former: it is a serious situation – I am sure – and already known to the European authorities, who when they decide to act are perfectly familiar with the Achilles' heel of certain circles. In short, it is no wonder that banking arguments are completely absent in this election campaign. It is not an oversight but a precise choice. In the media circus, some party leaders and candidates offer vibrant contrasts to the electorate but never tackle uncomfortable issues. And, in any case, they are ready for any scenario, even for the umpteenth grand coalition that leaves a place at the table for everyone.
But in this situation, how is it conceivable to really protect the savings of Italians and to defend the workers of the banks, for example, from undue commercial pressures for the sale of financial products? It is an area in which concrete facts and not gossip are needed. It would therefore not be better if the banks decided to divert those funds, until now destined for politics, for the renewal of the national contract and for initiatives to concretely improve the conditions of personnel or to intensify the contributions and loans that commendably direct to hospitals, research institutions, voluntary associations?
Since it is not my custom to put everyone on the same level and make a bundle of every herb, I also turn to those serious and respectable representatives of politics, who fortunately also exist in our institutions, to take a position towards a sector, the banking sector, to which all this autonomy cannot be left and granted. These reflections of mine also serve to make financial operators understand that I know perfectly well the interests that exist in aggregations, in the sale of non-performing loans to private companies, that I know perfectly well the existence and mechanisms of revolving doors between consulting companies and banking groups. , the interests behind the IT services, behind the contracts, behind the maintenance. My knowledge should be known to the parties and, above all, the same knowledge on these topics is perfectly known to the European authorities, which, as has always happened in recent years, move with the awareness of having no obstacles.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/mps-campagna-elettorale/ on Sun, 28 Aug 2022 06:25:26 +0000.