Brussels, 21 September 2023
The European Commission has concluded that support granted by the Italian mandatory deposit guarantee scheme to Banca Tercas does not constitute State aid within the meaning of EU rules. This decision follows a judgment by the Court of Justice, which confirmed a previous General Court ruling annulling the 2015 Commission decision.
In December 2015, the Commission found that support granted by the Italian Fondo Interbancario di Tutela dei Depositi (‘FITD’) to Banca Tercas constituted illegal State aid and ordered its recovery. In particular, the Commission found that FITD intervened in favour of Banca Tercas in order to cover its losses and support its sale to Banca Popolare di Bari (‘BPB’). At that time, the Commission considered that, in doing so, FITD acted on behalf of Italy and that therefore the support was imputable to the State.
In March 2019, following an appeal by Italy, BPB and the FITD, the General Court annulled the Commission’s 2015 decision. In particular, the Court found that the Commission had not sufficiently demonstrated that the decision by the FITD to support Banca Tercas were imputable to Italy. In March 2021, the Court of Justice upheld the General Court judgement.
In today’s decision, the Commission has reassessed the case in accordance with the judgments of the European Courts and has concluded that the support granted by the FITD to Banca Tercas was not imputable to Italy and therefore did not constitute illegal State aid.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.39451 in the State aid register on the Commission’s competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved.
Source – EU Commission