On Wednesday 6 September, the European Commission approved the prolongation, for a period of 12 months, of the Italian guarantee scheme to secure non-performing bank loans.
The scheme was initially approved on 10 February 2016 (see EUROPE 11487) and allowed Italian banks, under certain conditions, to be eligible for state guarantees on lower-risk senior notes issued by private securitisation vehicles, in order to support them in the acquisition of these non-performing loans. The higher-risk...