Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government on Friday passed a decree to speed up the recovery of unpaid credit in a banking system saddled with billions of euros in bad loans. Italy's lenders have some 360 billion euros ($410 billion) in bad loans on their books, which could take years to recoup, but the decree aims to accelerate the process in the future.
"This will reduce the time it takes to recoup credit from six to eight years to six to eight months," Renzi told reporters after the decree was passed. "This decree aims to resolve... definitively the problems of our country's banking system," he said. The government is seeking to stabilise the banking sector, which has been plagued by low profitability, weak governance and high costs.
Earlier this month, Italy set up a bank bailout fund for struggling lenders in the euro zone's fourth-biggest banking system. On Friday, Renzi said the fund, which has so far raised 4.25 billion euros, would likely attract "significantly" more funding in coming months. Also this month, parliament passed a guarantee scheme aimed at helping banks and other financial institutions to offload the bad loans that piled up during three years of recession. That law lets banks bundle the loans into securities that can be sold.
The decree will make it easier for banks to recover collateral from companies, not from individuals like mortgage holders, Renzi said. When the loan contract is signed, the lender and the creditor will agree to bypass the court system and allow repossession of collateral should the creditor default, a government source said after the decree was passed.
But it will also let creditors seize other assets aside from the property pledged as security for loans, while also allowing companies to use equipment and real estate that is already in foreclosure so that they are able to pay back debt and possibly stay in business, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said. The decree includes a mechanism that allows banks to access more quickly tax credits owed to companies that are in debt, Padoan said.
Separately, the decree foresees the reimbursement of some retail bondholders who lost money when the government rescued four small banks last year. The bondholder losses had sparked a public backlash against Renzi. Many of the savers say the banks never explained the potential risks when they sold them some 430 million euros worth of junior bonds. Magistrates are also investigating whether management at the various banks acted illegally as they sought funds to prop up their balance sheets. "Slightly more than half" of the 10,000 retail bond investors who lost their savings will be able to ask for an 80 percent reimbursement that will be paid wholly by the banking sector, Padoan said.
The measure has already been cleared by European authorities, Renzi said. Those who qualify for a payout have to have earned less than 35,000 euros last year, or have less than 100,000 euros in total investments excluding real estate, and they must have bought the bonds before June 12, 2014. The decree is effective immediately, but must be passed by both houses of parliament within 60 days to become law permanently.