Decline and near fall of Italy‘s Monte dei Paschi, the world’s oldest bank

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpMILAN Reuters – An appeals court on Friday acquitted all 13 defendants, as well as Deutsche Bank and Nomura, over derivative deals that prosecutors alleged helped Monte dei Paschi di Siena hide losses in one of Italys biggest financial scandals.p

pHere is a timeline of key events in the recent history of Monte dei Paschi MPS, whose origins can be traced back to the 15th century.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pNOVEMBER 2007 – MPS buys Antonveneta from Santander for 9 billion euros in cash, just months after the Spanish bank paid 6.6 billion euros for the Italian regional lender.p

pJANUARY 2008 – MPS announces a 5 billion euros rights issue, a separate 950 million euro capital increase reserved to JPMorgan, a 2.2 billion euro Tier2 bond issue and a 1.95 billion euro bridge loan to fund the Antonveneta deal.p

pMARCH 2008 – The Bank of Italy, led by Mario Draghi, approves the Antonveneta takeover subject to MPS rebuilding its capital.p

pMARCH 2009 – MPS sells 1.9 billion euros in special bonds to Italys Treasury to shore up its finances.p

pJULY 2011 – MPS raises 2.15 billion euros in a rights issue ahead of European stress test results.p

pSEPTEMBER 2011 – The Bank of Italy provides 6 billion euros in emergency liquidity to MPS through repo deals as the euro zone sovereign debt crisis escalates.p

pMARCH 2012 – MPS posts a 4.7 billion euro 2011 loss after billions of goodwill writedowns on deals including Antonveneta.p

pMAY 2012 – MPS headquarters searched as prosecutors investigate whether it misled regulators over the Antonveneta acquisition.p

pJUNE 2012 – MPS asks Italys Treasury to underwrite up to another 2 billion euros in special bonds.p

pOCTOBER 2012 – Shareholders approve a 1 billion euro share issue aimed at new investors.p

pFEBRUARY 2013 – MPS says losses stemming from three 200609 derivatives trades amount to 730 million euros.p

pMARCH 2013 – MPS loses 3.17 billion euros in 2012, hit by plunging prices on its large Italian government bond holdings. p

pMARCH 2014 – MPS posts 2013 net loss of 1.44 billion euros.p

pJUNE 2014 – MPS raises 5 billion euros in a deeply discounted rights issue and repays the state 3.1 billion euros.p

pOCTOBER 2014 – MPS emerges as the worst performer in Europewide stress tests with a capital shortfall of 2.1 billion euros.p

pNOVEMBER 2014 – MPS plans to raise up to 2.5 billion euros after stress tests results. p

pJUNE 2015 – MPS raises 3 billion euros in cash having upped the size of its rights issue after a 5.3 billion euro net loss for 2014 on record bad loan writedowns. It repays the remaining 1.1 billion euro state underwritten special bond. p

pJULY 2016 – MPS announces a new 5 billion euro rights issue and plans to offload 28 billion euros in bad loans as European bank stress tests show it would have negative equity in a slump.p

pDECEMBER 2016 – MPS turns to the state for help under a precautionary recapitalisation scheme after its cash call fails. The ECB sets the banks capital needs at 8.8 billion euros.p

pJULY 2017 – After the ECB declares MPS solvent, the EU Commission clears the bailout at a cost of 5.4 billion euros for the state in return for a 68 stake. Private investors contribute 2.8 billion euros for a total of 8.2 billion.p

pFEBRUARY 2019 – MPS swings to profit in 2018 but says its updated projections are below EU agreed restructuring targets.p

pOCTOBER 2019 – MPS completes Europes biggest bad loan securitisation deal, shedding 24 billion euros in bad debts.p

pFEBRUARY 2020 – MPS posts 1 billion euro 2019 loss.p

pMAY 2020 – CEO Marco Morelli steps down urging Rome to find a partner for MPS. He is replaced by 5Star backed Guido Bastianini.p

pAUGUST 2020 – Italy sets aside 1.5 billion euros to help MPS as it works to meet a mid2022 reprivatisation deadline.p

pOCTOBER 2020 – MPS shareholders approve a statesponsored plan to cut soured loans to 4.3 of total lending. Under the plan Italys stake falls to 64 as a decree paves the way for its sale.p

pOCTOBER 2020 – A Milan court convicts MPS former CEO and chairman for false accounting in a surprise decision that forces MPS to boost legal risk provisions.p

pDECEMBER 2020 – MPS says it needs up to 2.5 billion euros in capital. p

pDECEMBER 2020 – Italy approves tax incentives for bank mergers entailing a 2.3 billion euro benefit for an MPS buyer.p

pJANUARY 2021 – MPS says to open its books to potential partners.p

pFEBRUARY 2021 – MPS posts 1.69 billion euro loss for 2020.p

pJULY 2021 – UniCredit enters exclusive talks with Italys Treasury to buy “selected parts” of MPS, a day before European banking stress test results show the smaller banks capital would be wiped out in a slump.p

pOCTOBER 2021 – Talks with UniCredit collapse after the two sides fail to agree on how much the select assets of MPS are worth. Rome is left needing to ask the European Union for an extension to its deadline for returning the bank to private ownership.p

pFEBRUARY 2022 Monte dei Paschi di Siena MPS names restructuring veteran Luigi Lovaglio as chief executive, with Rome seeking a new course for the lender after failing to offload it. The bank reports a net profit for the previous year of 310 million euros.p

pMAY 2022 – Appeals court acquitted all 13 defendants, as well as Deutsche Bank and Nomura, over derivative deals and cancelled seizures imposed on Deutsche Bank and Nomura Holdings Inc for 64.9 million and 88 million euros, respectively.p

p1 0.8593 eurosp

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pp Reporting by Valentina Za Editing by Alexander Smith, Kirsten Donovanp

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