Italian unease

Banca Italease revealed a EUR687 million loss earlier this year from interest rate derivatives it had sold to clients. How have the bank and Italian regulators responded to the apparent risk management failures? Alexander Campbell reports

Banca Italease has paid a heavy price for its foray into the structured derivatives market. The Milan-based real estate and commercial leasing specialist has been reined in sharply by the Italian authorities after it revealed massive counterparty risk losses on its structured interest rate product portfolio. Italease warned in July that it had marked down the value of its derivatives holdings by EUR687 million - a loss that regulators blamed on inadequate risk management.

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