Banks, corruption, and oversight: who protects savers? And will scammers foot the bill?

These are the questions that matter even in the face of the clash between Consob and the Bank of Italy over the lack of oversight in the banking system. The case in point is the network of complicity in the Veneto banks: there are many inside. Fake bankers and real scammers.

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Corruption in banks

CORRUPTION IN BANKS

In the midst of the bonfire of Italian families' savings, hit by the hurricane of corruption and waste in the banking world , we have discovered another Columbus's egg: the supervisory network , shared in the Italian style by the Bank of Italy and Consob, has failed. A system that combines excessive bureaucracy (letters, inspections, protocols, etc.) and so little effectiveness in protecting savers should give us pause and open our eyes to the necessary countermeasures, rather than the usual hubbub in the borderlands between politics and the power of state officials.

They saved the Veneto banks, a hub of Italy's industrial and financial system, a once-safe haven for thousands of families of savers, which later became a center of the worst methods of Italian-style banking governance: cronyism, corruption, extensive safety nets, and corruption at various levels. The Veneto banks had to be saved , otherwise the price would have been even higher for everyone, and as had already happened with Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the bill is first and foremost paid by the state, with billions of euros—that is, by us, the citizens, with our taxes.

BANK RESCUE

But now that the banks have been rescued (and the bailout parade isn't over yet...), we have the right to ask some questions and get some answers about this gigantic waste . An important starting point comes from a book, The Collapse of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza , written by none other than Cecilia Carreri, a former magistrate at the Vicenza Public Prosecutor's Office, who witnessed firsthand the long season of waste and deception. This included the handouts of money across the board, from politicians to local trade unionists, and even some friends in the judiciary.

Carreri writes verbatim that "the crimes had been obvious to everyone for a long time." Years. But no one lifted a finger. And, the former magistrate warns, no one lifted a finger later, when the scandal exploded, to take any action against those responsible. Asset seizures to protect the injured parties, pre-trial detention in the event of evidence tampering. Nothing at all. "Unheard of," Carreri cuts short, pointing the finger at her former colleagues in the Prosecutor's Office.

The suspicion arises that such distraction is part of what I was saying at the beginning: the web of complicity that led Italian banks, some banks, to bankruptcy is very wide. And given the way things are going, there's a risk that those most responsible for the disaster , despite their obvious responsibilities, will get away with it . All of them, en masse.

ALSO READ: Savers defrauded by banks, but is Consob still useful?

PROBLEMS OF ITALIAN BANKS

That said, regarding the case of the Veneto banks, the frequent bailouts of Italian banks pose two problems. The first is that the bailout of Italian banks requires a systemic operation , shared with the gentlemen in Brussels and our partners, capable of addressing once and for all the mountain of bad debts , practically worthless paper in the hands and balance sheets of the banks. We're talking about approximately 360 billion euros, but the figure is probably an underestimate . Within this volcano, which risks exploding vital parts of the credit system and jeopardizing the treasure trove of Italian savings, lies the source of the second problem : the devastating, widespread, and unpunished corruption that is rampant throughout, and especially in, the upper echelons of our banks.

Let's start with this question: how did the mountain of bad debts arise? Answer: with the difficulty of the economy, businesses, and families in repaying their money, of course. But also because so many of today's debtors received that money from the banks by bribing various officials and managers . All in their place, all unpunished, all kicked out with huge severance packages worth millions of euros only when they simply didn't know how to defend it. This is the real scandal, the real waste of Italian banks.

This corruption is systemic , intertwined with political and business pressures , criminal clans , Freemasonry , and financiers rising like shadowy men with unbreakable power. Going to see the front row, with names and surnames, of those in power in those dozens of Italian banks that would have already failed without providential public intervention and that still need assistance and support to avoid collapse, is astonishing . At the top of these banks there are and have been immovable figures for twenty, thirty, forty years . Mummies of financial power, and not only that. A figure like Giovanni Bazoli, with whom I personally have great respect (after all, he is the man who accompanied and guided the formation of the first Italian banking hub), said that overall the Italian banking system is healthy and solid . He's right, but Bazoli denies the evidence if he doesn't recognize that a network has been created within this system, much more than a clique, where the links are lubricated and connected by a mutual form of protection, under the sign of the evil goddess called corruption . It's not possible, it's not right, it's intolerable, that in the centers of power in the banking system—think of the foundations, the savings banks, the cooperative banks—the same old suspects are always in charge. Enough. Let's save the banks, but not these fake bankers or luxury bankers.

ITALIAN BANKS AT RISK

Finally, so much corruption is fostered by public silence. Punctual and peremptory investigations into the banking system , as we have seen and continue to see in politics (remember the Tangentopoli years?), are nowhere to be seen in newspapers or on TV . Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that banks , either through their shares or the loans they grant to newspaper owners, effectively dominate the information system. And you'll see that many credit institutions, once saved from bankruptcy, even with the sacrifice of small savers and freed from the old herdsmen who exploited them, will be sold to foreign funds, which in turn will hand over to other shareholders in a few years. A great deal, unlike the damage done to Italian savers.

HOW MUCH DOES CORRUPTION COST US?:

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