Italy

Changes to Italian Banking Law Following the Cirio and Parmalat Cases

Roberto Cornetta, Managing Partner, Norton Rose Milan office (+39 02 8635 941, roberto.cornetta@nortonrose.com)

One of the first responses of the Bank of Italy to the Cirio and Parmalat scandals has been an immediate tightening of the procedures regulating the disclosure of offers of securities within the Italian market. In order to achieve this goal, the Bank of Italy, rather than modifying the existing regime, has adopted a more rigid approach and will scrutinise more closely and strictly offers of securities using the tools already provided by article 129 of the Italian Banking law. The following is an analysis of these procedures.