London Business School Professors Lucrezia Reichlin has strongly criticised Rome's interventions in the banking sector. „What is happening in the Italian banking sector is in no way justified, and is in direct contrast to greater integration of the sector,“ she said in an interview with Börsen-Zeitung.

The Italian government has significantly expanded its influence on the economy in general. However, she noted that the German and, above all, the French governments are also interfering more and more in the economy.

The so-called Golden Power regulation to protect strategic interests is permissible. However, the Italian government's conditions for Unicredit's takeover of Banco BPM contradict European rules, says Reichlin. Specifically, she cites Rome's rule that a certain percentage of Italian government bonds must be held. „This has been a problematic aspect in the past,“ the economist notes.

Reichlin considers it no less problematic that the Italian government apparently wants to attach conditions to the planned joint venture between the insurance company Generali and the Natixis of France. „The European Central Bank must intervene here,“ says the economist, who has a long history of research and teaching in the United States, Italy, Great Britain, France and Belgium, and was head of the ECB's research department.

Like other governments, Rome officially commits to the need for consolidation in the banking sector. But this is just lip service, because in reality the government is pursuing nationalistic approaches, criticises the economist. The result is stagnation or even a counterproductive development. „This should set off alarm bells,“ says Reichlin.

Reichlin considers it particularly problematic that Rome is also interfering in non-strategic matters. This is partly in line with private investors who do not come from the banking sector at all, she says, referring to construction and media entrepreneur Francesco Caltagirone and the Del Vecchio family's Delfin holding company, which holds shares in leading banks such as Mediobanca, Monte dei Paschi and the insurance company Generali. These investors are playing a central role in Monte dei Paschi's takeover bid for the investment bank Mediobanca and are seeking a dominant role in Generali.

„The circumstances under which the state and some private investors are interfering in the consolidation are very Italian,“ Reichlin notes. „Everyone is connected to everyone else. The way this is playing out is a nightmare. It's a mixture of political, regional and company-specific interests,“ says the specialist in monetary policy and economic cycles.

Reichlin would find consolidation according to market rules „great“. She does not understand why this is not accepted in the case of Unicredit's takeover of BPM, for example. It is also incomprehensible „why the government supports the takeover of Mediobanca by Monte dei Paschi, but not the takeover of Banca Generali by Mediobanca, which would make much more sense“. After all, this would create a large asset manager, just like the planned alliance between Generali and Natixis.

Reichlin is not fundamentally opposed to government intervention: „The Monte dei Paschi case has shown that temporary government intervention can lead to positive results.“ However, in these cases, the government is currently following a „purely political logic“. The economist criticises that the resistance to the takeover of BPM by Unicredit and the joint venture between Generali and Natixis is characterised by mistrust of the markets.