Banca Carige, the EU court agrees with the European Central Bank: compensation for damages to the Malacalza family is denied
Bad news for the family Malacalza. The EU Court rejected the company’s action for damages Malacalza Investments and of Vittorio Malacalza against the European Central Bank. According to the Luxembourg judges, none of the offenses alleged against the ECB in the context of its supervision of Carige Bank may give rise to non-contractual liability of the Union.
The two appellants ask the Court of the European Union to order the Union to pay them the sums of 870.5 million euros (for the first) and 9.5 million (for the second), respectively, as compensation for the damage they believe they have suffered as a result of actions taken by ECB as part of its supervisory functions over Carige Bank.
Banca Carige, Malacalza-ECB clash. Why the EU denied compensation to the business family
In its ruling, the Court recalls that, in order for the Union to be liable to non-contractual liability, individuals and companies must demonstrate that three conditions are cumulatively satisfied: the unlawfulness of the conduct attributable to the institution or its agents in the exercise of their functions, the actuality of the damage and the existence of a causal link between the behavior reported and the damage complained of.
The first of these conditions is satisfied when the contested behavior implies a legal rule intended to confer rights on individuals and businesses and when the violation contested against the institution is sufficiently qualified.
In this capacity, the Malacalza Investments And Vittorio Malacalza they must demonstrate, to be victorious, that the ECB has seriously and manifestly breached, by abusing its discretion, a rule of Union law which confers rights on them.
In its ruling, the Court concludes that this requirement has not been met. Indeed, either the relevant rules of Union law do not confer any rights on individuals and businesses, or the infringement in question is not sufficiently qualified, or the arguments of the Malacalza Investments and of Vittorio Malacalza they are inadmissible. The Court therefore rejects the appeal without assessing whether the other conditions for establishing a claim are met non-contractual liability of the Union.
How the conflict arises
At the root of the confrontation in court between the family of entrepreneurs and the ECB, there is precisely the former Genoese credit institution, now part of the group Bper driven by Piero Luigi Montani. But let’s try to rewind the tape of the story.
Always among the important players in the steel sector, i Malacalza they enter Banca Carige – Cassa di Risparmio di Genova e Imperia in 2015, placing 10.5% of the capital in the portfolio for approximately 66 million euros. Subsequently, over the years, the family – through investments estimated at almost 500 million euros – managed to scale the capital of the credit institution until it controlled 27.5% of the shares.
Between 2016 and 2019, Banca Carige experienced a period of intense administrative and financial turbulence. In 2016, Vittorio Malacalza promotes significant changes in leadership, choosing Giuseppe Tesauro as president and Giuliano Bastianini as CEO. However, just a year later, in 2017, due to disagreements over crucial financial decisions, the CEO Bastianini is replaced by Paolo Fiorentino.
During Fiorentino’s tenure, in 2018, several members of the board of directors resigned due to disagreements over the bank’s management and strategy, leading to the election of Pietro Modiano And Fabio Innocenzi as new key figures.
Despite this, the crisis of Carige shows no signs of improving, culminating in a total of almost €2.91 billion in recapitalizations between 2014 and 2019, with huge losses of money.
At the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019, following the resignation of the majority of the board of directors, the ECB thus imposes extraordinary administration, effectively ousting the family Malacalza from the control of Carige.
The ECB chooses commissioners Fabio Innocenzi, Pietro Modiano And Raffaele Lener, establishing a record. It is the first time in Italian history, in fact, that a credit institution has been placed under special administration by the European Central Bank.
In 2020, the bank exited the receivership phase thanks to the intervention of the Interbank deposit protection fund (Fitd), with a 700 million rescue operation, to which 200 million in convertible bonds were added.
In January 2020, after the administration of the ECBthe shareholders’ meeting appoints a new board of directors. Vincenzo Calandra Buonaura is elected president of the board of directors, with Angelo Barbaruolo as vice president e Francesco Guido as CEO. Finally, in June 2022, Carige is acquired by BPER Bank for one euro.
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