tyb
Italy delays presentation of plan to sell Monte Paschi stake (the world's oldest bank)
ROME, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Italy, with the agreement of the European Union Commission, will delay to early 2020 the presentation of a plan to sell its stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the Treasury said on Sunday, as the bank struggles to shed bad loans. The plan for the state to offload its 68% stake in the world’s oldest bank by the end of 2021 was supposed to be submitted to the EU executive by the end of this year.
The Treasury said in statement it had asked Brussels for the postponement “in the light of, and in line with, the dialog in progress regarding an operation of de-risking for the bank. Monte Paschi was at the forefront of Italy’s banking crisis until a 2017 state bailout was cleared by Brussels, leaving the bank with a tough restructuring plan and the Italian Treasury as its main shareholder. The bank has sold more than 30 billion euros ($33.53 billion) of bad loans since the bailout, but it still held 16 billion in soured debt mid-way through this year, some 16% of its total loans.
This stands in the way of a merger with a rival, several sources familiar with the matter have said, and complicates the Treasury’s re-privatization efforts. At a meeting this month, Monte Paschi’s board discussed the possibility that Italy may seek to delay by a year the end-2021 deadline for the Treasury to get out of the bank, a source close to the matter said. However, a government source said this option was not being discussed with the European Commission at the moment.
Italy has been in talks with Brussels for months over a plan to accelerate the disposal of Monte Paschi’s soured loans. The Treasury’s plan would see a chunk of the bank’s assets and liabilities transferred to state-owned bad loan manager AMCO, but the Commission is concerned that it may break EU state aid rules. The Commission wants the bank to shed the loans at market value, a source close to the matter said.
The plan favored by the Treasury would instead shield the bank from losses by transferring the loans at book value while their market value would be factored in as part of a share swap between the bank and AMCO.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/29/reuters-america-italy-delays-presentation-of-plan-to-sell-monte-paschi-stake.html
bookmarked and ty, was gone when that came in.
don't even know where to start. Currently just hangs when any letter string selected.
agree. I still have not renewed my DL because of this shit. They have no biz being any where around this issue.
>PREPARE FOR A PLUTOCRAT-CONTROLLED NEOLIBERAL ECONOMIC ORDER AND GLOBAL AUTHORITARIANISM
ahem….not
Chinese President Xi Installs Finance Experts To Avoid "Lurking, Devastating Debt Bombs"
The Chinese president has put 12 former executives at state-run financial institutions in top posts across the nation amid fears of a financial meltdown.
As China struggles to deal with the slowdown of the world’s second-largest economy, it has embarked on a new strategy of placing financial experts in provinces to manage risks and rebuild regional economies.
Since last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has put 12 former executives at state-run financial institutions or regulators in top posts across the nation’s 31 provinces, regions and municipalities, including some who have grappled with banking and debt difficulties that have raised fears of a financial meltdown. Only two top provincial officials had such financial background before the last leadership reshuffle in 2012, according to Reuters research.
Among the experts promoted is Beijing Vice Mayor Yin Yong (應勇) a former deputy central bank governor, and Shandong Deputy Provincial Governor Liu Qiang (劉強), who rose through the nation’s biggest commercial banks, from Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行) to Bank of China (中國銀行).
Another newly promoted official, Chongqing Vice Mayor Li Bo (李波), had until this year led the central bank’s monetary policy department.
The appointments — overseeing economies larger than those of small countries — would appear to put those officials in the fast lane as China prepares a personnel reshuffle in 2022, when about half of the 25 members of the Politburo could be replaced, including Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴), who is leading economic reform while doubling as chief negotiator in trade talks with the US.
“Bankers are now in demand, as local governments are increasingly exposed to financial risks,” said Feng Chucheng, a partner at Plenum, an independent research platform in Hong Kong. “These ex-bankers and regulators are given the task of preventing and mitigating major financial risks,” he said.
The appointments have come as economic growth has slowed to its weakest in nearly three decades, while government infrastructure investment has fallen. Five regional banks were hit with management or liquidity problem this year, raising the prospect of devastating debt bombs lurking in unexpected corners. “We need to be well-prepared with contingency plans,” Xinhua news agency said after a major annual economic meeting headed by Xi this month. The economy faced “increasing downward economic pressure amid intertwined structural, institutional and cyclical problems,” it said.
With pressures mounting, local governments are expecting to take the lead in managing their financial scares and cutting the cost of rescue with local intervention, analysts said. “Appointing financial vice governors to provinces can help better integrate financial policies into local practice, and to prevent financial risks beforehand,” said He Haifeng (何海峰), director of Institute of Financial Policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, a government think tank. “Such appointments have also showcased a change of manner in official appointments,” He said. Financial executives were long shunned for leadership positions.
Banks were nationalized after the Chinese Communist Party took power in 1949 and many bankers were purged during the Cultural Revolution. Xi started to stress the importance of financial expertise and to elevate the status of executives in 2017.
“Political cadres, especially the senior ones, must work hard to learn financial knowledge and be familiar with financial sectors,” Xi said in a national meeting on financial affairs.
Half of the 12 former financial executives elevated to provincial leadership posts under Xi were born after 1970.
Liaoning Vice Governor Zhang Lilin ( 張酈林), 48, a veteran banker who spent two decades in the nation’s third-largest lender, Agricultural Bank of China, was appointed days after three state-controlled financial institutions announced investment in the then-troubled Bank of Jinzhou (錦州銀行)
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2019/12/28/2003728291/2