Italy Sets Up $5.7Bln Fund to Support Weak Banks, Take on Bad Loans

Italy’s financial institutions launched a 5-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) fund to shore up weakened banks and take on bad loans, European media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The size of the fund has not been disclosed by the private manager, but chief executive of mid-tier lender Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna, Alessandro Vandelli, reportedly valued it at 5 billion euros.

"Following meetings with a vast number of institutional investors, banks, insurers, banking foundations and [state lender] Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Quaestio has gathered many subscribers to launch the Atlante Fund," the Quaestio Capital Management fund manager said Monday as quoted by the EurActiv online outlet.

The Italian government was said to delegate the announcement to Quaestio because it wanted to portray the fund as an "industry initiative" so that Rome did not violate European rules against unfair state aid.

One of the fund’s first steps would be to intervene in the $1.9-billion recapitalization of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza next week, the outlet said, citing Italy’s financial news services.

Italy’s banking system is suffering from 360 billion euros in bad loans, the third-largest share among eurozone economies.