The Rescue of Banks in Crisis

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter aims to study the banking crises that have affected Italy in recent years, comparing them with what happened in other European countries. The first difficulties were recorded by Carife, Banca Marche, Carichieti and Banca Etruria in 2015, which were then followed by Veneto Banca, Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Carige in 2017. The last case is that of Banca Popolare di Bari, which ran into difficulty in 2019. The intermediaries differ in size and nature, but the difficulties encountered were caused by the same problems. The first aim is therefore to discuss the causes that led to the crises and then to see the solution adopted. To this end, bail-out, bail-in and bail-over will be discussed. Bail-out is the traditional public rescue, and this was followed by the introduction of the innovative bail-in, the private rescue (internal to the bank). The Italian legislator actually opted for a third solution: bail-over, i.e. a bail-out by the healthy banks. The latter can be discussed from many points of view and lends itself well to a reflection on the ethics of the legislative choice adopted.