Банка Монте-деи-Паски-ди-Сиена: История и современность

Italian bank

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S. p. A. , known as BMPS or just MPS, is an Italian bank. Tracing its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472 and established in its present form in 1624 , it is the world's oldest or second oldest bank, depending on the definition, and the fifth largest Italian commercial and retail bank. In 1995, the bank (then known as Monte dei Paschi di Siena) was transformed from a statutory corporation to a limited company called Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Banca MPS). The Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena was created to continue the charitable functions of the bank and to be, until the bailout in 2013, its largest single shareholder. According to research by Mediobanca and a press release issued by Banco BPM, Banco BPM overtook BMPS as the third largest commercial banking group in Italy (in terms of total assets) on 31 December 2016, after Banco BPM's formal formation on 1 January 2017. In 2016–17, BMPS was struggling to avoid a collapse, and it was bailed out again by the Italian government in July 2017. In 2020, BMPS had approximately 1,400 branches, 21,000 employees and 3.9 million customers It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena traces its history to a mount of piety (monte di pietà) founded by order of the Magistrature of the Republic of Siena on 4 March 1472, when its statute was approved. It is therefore often regarded as being the oldest bank in the world in continuous operation. The basis of its foundation is the Statuto dei Paschi, written in 1419, a law that regulated all activities related to agriculture and pastoralism in Maremma. Its current form dates from 1624, when Siena was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Grand Duke Ferdinando II granted to depositors of Monte, in their warranty, the income of the state owned pastures of Maremma (the so called "Paschi" which gave the bank its name). The bank consolidated and increased its banking activity during the 17th and 18th centuries. With the unification of Italy, the bank expanded its business throughout the Italian peninsula, initiating new activities, including mortgage loans, the first experience in Italy. MPS was also involved in the bail out of Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, becoming the major shareholder. In 1995, a decree of the Ministry of the Treasury of the Italian Republic dated 8 August 1995, gave rise to two institutions: Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S. p. A. and Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a non profit organization with the statutory purpose of providing assistance, charity and social utility in the fields of education, science, health and art, especially with reference to the city and the province of Siena. On 25 June 1999, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was listed successfully on the Italian Stock Exchange.

In the wake of rising yields and declining valuations on Italian government debt in the European sovereign debt crisis, MPS lost over $2 billion in the first half of 2012, had to recapitalize, and faced restructuring or worse. The majority owner until the recapitalization, the Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena, long resisted issuing new capital which would dilute its holding. In September 2012, even after the dilution, the bank "appear[ed] poised" also to give the national government a greater ownership stake in return for more capital. In December 2012, Cassa di Risparmio di Biella e Vercelli was sold to Cassa di Risparmio di Asti for about €205.5 million.

In 2009, the Santorini and Alessandria operations began creating huge losses. In order to hide them in the bank's financial statements, the top management, including Giuseppe Mussari, the bank president, chose to enter into derivative contracts with Deutsche Bank and Nomura. This arrangement eventually led to prison sentences for 13 bank executives. Estimates of the losses accumulated by the Santorini and Alessandria operations in the period leading up to the derivative contracts range from €500 to €750 million. The documentation concerning these operations was never communicated to the bank's own auditors or the Banca d'Italia. The derivative contracts and related documentation were discovered and made public by the new board of the bank at the end of November 2012. The documentation was then forwarded to the Banca d'Italia between December 2012 and mid January 2013. The shareholders and the analysts have ascertained that the bank had not declared losses from derivatives. On 22 January 2013, the bank's shares lost 5.6% on the stock exchange and Mussari resigned as president of Associazione Bancaria Italiana. On 23 January 2013, the scandal of the hidden derivatives was revealed. The bank's shares dropped 8.43% on the stock exchange that day, and another 8% the next day. On 25 January 2013, an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the bank was convened. They resolved to grant the Board of Directors the power to increase the share capital by a maximum amount of €4.5 billion to service the exercise of conversion rights of the bank of the Monti bonds. MPS called for an intervention of €3.9 billion, including €1.9 billion for the replacement of the previous Tremonti bonds. The delegation of the extraordinary powers to the Board of Directors has also included the possibility of increasing the share capital of €2 billion at the exclusive service of the payment of interest payable in shares. The shareholders approved with a 98% vote in favour. After the vote, the bank recovered 11.36% on the stock exchange after having lost more than 20% of its value in three sessions in three days. On 26 January 2013 the Banca d'Italia (Bank of Italy) approved a bailout request from the bank for €3.9 billion ($5.3 billion). The firm sparked fresh controversy in 2013 when it was accused of misleading Italy's market regulator in October 2012, shortly before it received a 4.1 billion euro ($5.47 billion) state bailout. On 29 December 2013, Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena rejected plans for issuing €3 billion worth of new shares, delaying the raising of capital until at least May 2014 and increasing the risk of nationalization. In November 2019, after a three year trial, 13 former bank executives received prison sentences. The Monte dei Paschi ex chairman and CEO received seven years each; two senior executives five and four years. Three bankers from Deutsche Bank received five years and two from Nomura received five and three years. The court decided that they had conspired to hide Monte dei Pasche's losses of €2bn between 2008 and 2012 by using complicated derivative contracts. Deutsche Bank and Nomura were fined €160m; Monte dei Paschi had paid €10.6m after a plea bargain in 2016. Following an appeal, in May 2022, a Milan appeals court ruling overturned the 2019 conviction of the former executives and the two banks over derivative deals and cancelled the seizures imposed on Deutsche Bank and Nomura Holdings Inc. In October 2023, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed the acquittals in Monte dei Paschi derivatives case.

On 20 November 2023, the Italian government sold a 25% stake in MPS, thus partially privatising the bank and reducing the government's stake from 64% to 39%. After a €178mn loss in 2022, MPS returned to full year profit with record earnings of just over €2bn for 2023. In February 2024, MPS payed its first dividend since 2010, returning €315mn to shareholders. On 27 March 2024, the Italian government sold a further 12.5% stake in MPS, for about €650 million. This sell further cuts Italy's stake in MPS, reducing it to 26.7% from 39.2%, and advances the government's plan to privatise MPS.

MPS headquarters in the Palazzo Salimbeni in Siena hosts an art collection and a large number of priceless historical documents spanning the centuries of its existence. However, this collection is not usually open to the public. The most recent publicly known acquisition of art, a gold plated panel by Segna di Bonaventura, cost the bank nearly one million Euro. It is also internationally known as the primary sponsor of Italian basketball club Mens Sana Basket of Siena, currently in Lega A and a regular participant in the Euroleague. In 2010, the bank was funding the expansion of a small airport in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, Siena–Ampugnano Airport, to become an international airport. Both international and local groups had raised objections to this expansion on the grounds it would damage the natural beauty of the area, the environment and the attraction of the countryside to tourism. Eventually, Aeroporto di Siena S. p. A., the company incorporated for the project, was liquidated
Until the euro crisis, profits from the bank financed the Palio di Siena, Siena's historic building renovations and "biotech programs" intended to turn the Tuscan plain into a research hub. Nearly all that money – $150 million a year, on average, from 1996 to 2010 – has "evaporated" since 2010. Along with other loss related and not related to the bank since 2010, the foundation had to suspend all the endowment to other organizations.