EU presses Italy to sell rescued banks quickly

By Silvia Ognibene

AREZZO, Italy (Reuters) - Four Italian banks rescued last month from collapse will be sold by late spring, the chairman of the lenders said on Wednesday, as Rome comes under pressure from Brussels to find buyers quickly.

"There is an obligation to sell (the banks) and significant pressure from the EU to do so very fast," Roberto Nicastro told reporters.

Nicastro, a former manager at UniCredit, was appointed chairman of Banca Marche, Banca Etruria, CariFe and CariChieti last month when Italy came to the rescue of the four lenders by drawing 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion) from a crisis fund paid for by the country's healthy banks.

In line with new, tougher European rules aimed at protecting taxpayers, shareholders and holders of junior debt at the banks bore the brunt of the damage.

As part of the rescue package, four new banks were set up to take on the 'good' assets from the troubled lenders, allowing them to continue to operate until a buyer can be found.

The European Commission now wants Italy to dispose of them quickly in order to limit distortions of competition.

The Italian banking association, however, has said a rushed sale could hinder efforts to get the best price as healthy banks seek to recoup some of the money they paid into the rescue fund.

"The advisers are charged with getting a sale of the banks away by late spring," Nicastro said.

Expression of interests have already come from Italy and abroad, the former UniCredit manager said, adding U.S. consulting firm Oliver Wyman and French bank Societe Generale were picked as advisers.

The rescued banks, whose customer base accounts for just 1 percent of Italian bank deposits, could be sold together or separately, depending on what buyers proposed, he said.

Italian authorities recently came under fire after it emerged many ordinary Italians had been sold risky subordinated bonds which, in cases of bankruptcy, only get repaid after ordinary creditors have been reimbursed in full.

The government has pledged to set up a 100-million-euro compensation fund to reimburse retail bondholders who are victims of fraud.

"We hope the fund will be created as soon as possible," Nicastro said, adding a task force was set up inside the banks to collect data to help savers get compensation.

Italy is looking to reduce the 650 or so banks scattered across the country to create bigger and more efficient lenders able to compete.

The four banks being rescued are among the hundreds of small lenders which suffered most during a three-year recession between 2012-14 that sent non-performing loans soaring.

(Reporting by Silvia Ognibene; Writing by Francesca Landini; Editing by Mark Potter)

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