Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti and ECB President Christine Lagarde met and talked on the sidelines of the Eurogroup meetings in Brussels today. This is according to sources in Brussels. The confrontation was expected after the exchanges on the naming of the Bank of Italy’s gold reserves after the Italian people. Sources in the Mef said that the ‘letter sent by Giorgetti puts an end to the affair’ and that ‘everything would be clarified’.

FdI: gold belongs to the Italian people, in Bankitalia also foreigners, no risks

Earlier in the day, the content of an FdI information note had filtered out – anticipated by the Repubblica and Corriere della sera websites – entitled ‘Bankitalia’s gold to the Italian people: let’s dismantle the fake news’, regarding the amendment to the manoeuvre presented by Prime Minister Meloni’s party that ‘does not call into question the independence of the Bank of Italy, nor does it violate European treaties’. “The capital of the Bank of Italy, including therefore the gold reserves,” it reads, “is held by banks, insurance companies, foundations, social security bodies and institutes, pension funds, etc. with registered offices in Italy. In many cases, these are private entities, some of which are controlled by foreign groups. Italy cannot run the risk of private entities claiming rights to the gold reserves of Italians. That is why we need a regulation that clarifies ownership’. ‘Moreover,’ the parliamentary groups’ document continues, ‘on the Bank of Italy’s website it is stated that gold is the ‘property of the institution’. One more reason to make explicit that the gold reserves are the property of all Italians’.

Amendment in rewording

In short, Fratelli d’Italia is not giving up on the need to assign the Bank of Italy’s gold reserves to the ‘Italian people’. While waiting for the amendment affirming this principle in the manoeuvre, the study centre of Giorgia Meloni’s party goes on the attack. In recent days the government has been working on a reformulation of the amendment, which however still does not seem to convince the ECB. ‘Despite the changes,’ they wrote from Frankfurt, ‘the concrete purpose of the proposal is still not clear’, which therefore for the Eurotower still needs to be ‘reconsidered’. The latest version under the first signature of Senate group leader Lucio Malan states that ‘the gold reserves managed and held by the Bank of Italy belong to the Italian people’

Who are the Italian and foreign shareholders of Bankitalia

The capital of the Bank of Italy is divided into 300,000 shares and no shareholder can hold more than 5%. Via Nazionale’s main shareholders are large banks and pension funds. According to the data published on the Bankitalia website, Unicredit is the largest shareholder (15,000 shares equal to 5%), followed by INARCASSA (the Pension Fund for Engineers and Architects), Fondazione ENPAM (the Pension Fund for Doctors and Dentists) and Cassa Forense (the Italian Lawyers’ Pension Fund) with 4.93% each. Intesa Sanpaolo held a 4.91% stake.

In sixth place among Bankitalia shareholders is the Cassa di previdenza dei commercialisti with 3.66%. Also in the top ten were BPER Banca with 3.25%, ICCREA Banca with 3.12% and Generali with 3.02%. Also in tenth place, with 3% each, were INPS, INAIL, Cassa di Sovvenzioni e Risparmio among Bank of Italy staff, and Cassa di Risparmio di Asti.