The Strategist

ECB finishes screening of Monte dei Paschi's bad debts



03/21/2017 - 15:03



In February, The European Central Bank completed a nine-month review of loan portfolio of the Italian Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank. The Central Bank will take into account its results in assessing financial solvency of the financial institution.



giuliaduepuntozero via flickr
giuliaduepuntozero via flickr
The bank said that the ECB had not yet announced results of the audit. "Final result of the audit will be taken into account when assessing the bank’s solvency", - told Monte dei Paschi in a message.

The possible impact on the bank’s solvency is an element of "significant uncertainty" regarding its ability to continue its operations, the financial institution indicated.

Other risk factors include necessity of obtaining the necessary permits for state capitalization and an ability to implement a restructuring plan, the bank added.

Monte dei Paschi has to fill the capital gap of EUR 8.8 billion. Last year, the bank failed to attract 5 billion euros of additional capital. The lender required state support, but he must be considered solvent and must have a restructuring plan approved by the European authorities in order to use public funds.

On the eve of meeting of shareholders scheduled on 12 April, Monte dei Paschi published documents indicating that the ECB, which started the audit in May 2016, considered how the loans, collateral levels and collateral value were classified as at the end of 2015.

Monte dei Paschi has the biggest share of problem loans among Italian banks in relation to its capital. Last year’s failure to attract capital was aimed at covering losses from planned disposal of 28 billion euros of "bad" debts.

source: rte.ie