Antonio Fazio
| Antonio Fazio | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Governor of Bank of Italy | |
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In office 4 May 1993 – 20 December 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi |
| Succeeded by | Mario Draghi |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
11 October 1936 Alvito, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
Antonio Fazio (born 11 October 1936 in Alvito, province of Frosinone) is an Italian banker, who was the Governor of Banca d'Italia from 1993 until his resignation amidst controversy at the end of 2005.
He is reported to be very religious, and close to the Vatican. He has five children.
He started work at the Bank of Italy in 1960. In 1993, after his predecessor Carlo Azeglio Ciampi left office to become the Italian Prime Minister, he became governor of the Bank of Italy. Some years after his appointment, it was said that he was interested in the leadership of the left-wing coalition to beat Berlusconi's right wing one. After Berlusconi won the 2001 general election, however, he came to be considered closer to the centre-right.
In 2005, Fazio came under heavy pressure to resign (which he eventually did) over his role in allegedly rigging the competition to take over an Italian bank, Banca Antonveneta, earlier in the year. Published excerpts of tapped telephone calls strongly suggest that Fazio favoured an Italian bid, probably in order to sabotage a foreign bid from Dutch bank ABN AMRO.
Silvio Berlusconi's government, itself in troubled times because of the utter defeat in the regional elections of April 2005, was accused of weakness for not kicking Fazio out of office. On 21 September 2005, economy minister Domenico Siniscalco resigned in protest against the lack of determination in the government. The government maintained that it had no power to remove the governor of the central bank.
Gianpiero Fiorani was arrested on 14 December 2005 for investigation of his role in the affair, and Fazio was officially put under investigation in Milan for insider trading on 16 December. He is also under investigation in Rome for having pressured the apparatus of the Bank of Italy to give green light to Fiorani's takeover of Antonveneta.
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