Monte dei Paschi asks for help from banking associations. But no one wants to rush to his rescue

The reaction of the Tuscan banking foundations to the hypothesis of subscribing a part of the capital increase of the Monte dei Paschi. It would be a matter of pulling out a part of the 900 million that CEO Luigi Lovaglio has to find on the market to complete the subscription of the two and a half billion of new capital needed to relaunch the bank, given that the rest – 1.6 billion – is given by the Treasury, the majority shareholder. It does not seem that this money is destined to come from the coffers of the Cr Firenze, Cr Pistoia and Cr Lucca foundations that would have been “approached” to ask for availability to participate in the operation. From Pistoia the position is clear: “As far as the Caript Foundation is concerned, the investment in Mps is not on the agenda”, said Lorenzo Zogheri, president of the Tuscan institution. The Cr Firenze Foundation says that “it has not received any dossier and therefore has not been able to express itself in any sense”. «The Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca Foundation – declared its president Marcello Bertocchini instead – currently holds a modest number of shares in Mps. As soon as the subscription period for the capital increase begins, it will evaluate whether to exercise the option rights that are due to it ».

Certainly there is no enthusiasm for the hypothesis of investing resources in yet another capital increase necessary to try to revive the fortunes of the bank of Siena. Between Monday and Tuesday, Monte dei Paschi would have lost more than 50 percent of its value if Borsa Italiana had not intervened to suspend the stock and then limit its trading in order to curb speculation. In the same hours news also arrived of the change of course of the party of Giorgia Meloni who on the eve of the assembly of the shareholders of the Monte (which in recent weeks gave the green light to the recapitalization) had slowed down on the increase, saying that to put a hand it would have been better to wait for the new government to take office. But in the meantime we passed from the electoral campaign to the victory of the elections and the position on the MPS dossier has changed: on Tuesday, the economic manager of FdI, Maurizio Leo, said that Mps “is in good hands” and that the party trusts that the administrator delegate Luigi Lovaglio can complete the recapitalization. There is no time to waste. It remains to be seen who will put the money for the subscription of the private part: from the Tuscan Foundations it seems to understand that there will be none. The small shareholders of Monte offered themselves instead, who would have communicated to the CEO their willingness to settle the disputes open – for which the bank has put 1.8 billion in reserve – in exchange for new shares.