Bancopoli

"Bancopoli" was the name coined by the Italian press for the finance and banking scandals between July 2005 and January 2006. The Italian Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI), in competition with Holland's ABN AMRO for control of Banca Antonveneta, was given an unfair advantage by Banca d'Italia's (Italy's central bank) president, Antonio Fazio.

Fazio was forced to resign and BPI Managing Director, Gianpiero Fiorani, was arrested on a number of charges in connection with the attempted takeover, having been accused of using illegal procedures. Giovanni Consorte, head of the Italian insurance company Unipol, was also forced to resign due to implications that he was connected with the Antonveneta scheme and another attempted takeover of the Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). Ultimately, ABN AMRO gained control of Antonveneta and the French BNP Paribas attained control of BNL.

During the summer of 2004, ABN AMRO sought authorization from the Banca d'Italia to increase its ownership share of the Antonveneta bank from 12.6% to 20%, thereby making it the largest single shareholder. On February 14, 2005, the Italian bank BPI, (known at the time as Banca Popolare di Lodi (BPL)) received permission from the Banca d'Italia to raise its holdings in Antonveneta to 15%.

On March 30, 2005, ABN AMRO launched a bid for Antonveneta and a month later, on April 29, BPL proposed a merger with Antonveneta.

On March 29, 2005, the Spanish bank, BBVA, launched a bid to increase its controlling share of 15% in order to become the majority shareholder of BNL. In the same year, on July 19, the Italian insurance company, Unipol, launched a takeover bid for a controlling interest in BNL. Unipol's bid created competition between two Italian companies and two foreign banks for ownership of the domestically-owned banks in Italy.

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Wikipedia