Bank of Inquiry Commission. Where have you been?

The side step of Senator M5s Elio Lannutti should favor the election of the presidency and - therefore - the beginning of the activity of the parliamentary inquiry commission on banking institutions.

A commission that should have started operating from last September and whose INSTITUTIONAL LAW dates back to last March, nine months ago.

The measure entered, in fact, in the Official Gazette on March 26, 2019. At the time of the promulgation of the law, a MONITOR had arrived from the President of the Republic.

"The possibility that subjects who participate in the high parliamentary function - the head of state had written in a letter - but still bearers of political interests, could, even involuntarily, condition banks, directly or indirectly, in the exercise of the credit, in the disbursement of loans or mortgages and companies with regard to investment choices, it definitely falls outside the criteria that inspire the rules of the Constitution ".

In early August, the presidents of the chambers indicated the 20 members per branch of Parliament that make it up. The first meeting of the commission was held on 4 September last and the appointment of the top management of the body (presidents, deputies, secretaries) was on the agenda but for now due to the lack of agreements between the political forces it was not possible to appoint them .

Once the presidency has been chosen, the commission will be fully operational and will have well-defined tasks and - according to the founding law - it will also have to start from the work done by the previous commission chaired by Pier Ferdinando Casini.

In the founding law, the Commission provides annually to the Chambers a report on the activity and results of the investigation as well as any proposed changes to the regulatory framework on the matters under investigation. After six months from the establishment of the Commission, the President of the Commission sends the Chambers a report on the state of affairs
works.

The Commission must - among other things - analyze and evaluate the conditions in order to establish a national prosecutor's office for banking and financial crimes on the model of the National Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Directorate, or extend the competence of the National Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Directorate to investigation into financial and banking crimes.

And again: analyze the legislation on incompatibility and conflict of interest of senior representatives and managers of the supervisory authorities, in particular the Bank of Italy, the National Commission for companies and the stock exchange (CONSOB), the Institute for Insurance Supervision (IVASS) and the Pension Fund Supervisory Commission (COVIP), and verify the adequacy of its application.

Analyzing the management of credit institutions and investment firms, including those involved in crisis or distress situations and recipients, even indirectly, of public resources or subjected to resolution procedures, checking in particular, among other things, the methods for collecting funding and the financial products used; the criteria for the remuneration of the representatives of the administrative and control bodies and of the managers, as well as the implementation of transactions with related parties which are subject to a conflict of interest; the correctness of the placement with the public, with reference to small savers and non-institutional investors, of financial products, especially high risk ones; the forms of disbursement of credit; the procedures for the disposal of impaired loans, taking into account the prices prevalent on the markets; the cost structure, the restructuring of the management model and the aggregation and merger policy; compliance with the obligations of diligence, transparency and fairness in the allocation of financial products, as well as the obligations of correct information to investors.

The members of the commission are bound by the confidentiality of investigations.

The expenses for the functioning of the Commission are set at 55 thousand euros for 2018 and 180 thousand euros for each of the following years, half borne by the internal budget of the Senate and half borne by the internal budget of the Chamber.