The Italian bank filed two separate lawsuits at the civil court in Florence a day after receiving €4.1 billion, or $5.3 billion, in government funds as part of a bailout. Monte dei Paschi said it was also suing Antonio Vigni, the bank’s former chief executive, and Giuseppe Mussari, its former chairman, because of their involvement in the deals.
The bank is seeking compensation for “damages sustained and to be sustained by the bank as a result of the challenged transactions,” Monte dei Paschi said in a statement on its Web site.
Rob Davies, a spokesman for Nomura in London, and Kathryn Hanes, a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment on the lawsuits.
Monte dei Paschi revealed last month that it had lost €730 million on three transactions that were used to conceal the size of the bank’s difficulties. The bank said Friday that the lawsuits concerned two of the three transactions that were responsible for most of the losses.
Monte dei Paschi said one lawsuit related to Mr. Mussari, Nomura and a financial transaction in 2009 called Alexandria. The other lawsuit refers to Mr. Vigni, Deutsche Bank and a trade called Santorini, which took place in December 2008.
Lawyers for Mr. Mussari and Mr. Vigni could not be reached for comment.
The two transactions have been in the spotlight since January, when news spread that Fabrizio Viola, the bank’s new chief executive, had found an exchange of letters from Nomura to M.P.S. hidden in a safe. The bank consequently started a review of its financial portfolio in October, which led to a revision of its 2012 final results.
The Alexandria transaction caused a €273.5 million loss, Santorini resulted in a loss of €305.2 million, and the third transaction, called Nota Italia, lost €151.7 million, M.P.S. said.
Italian prosecutors have started an investigation into why this 541-year old bank ran into trouble. The local authorities have long asked for those responsible for the bank’s demise to be held accountable.
The bank’s problems began in 2008, when it acquired the regional lender Antonveneta for €9 billion, a sum regarded by analysts as far too large. Short of cash, Monte dei Paschi then tried to raise money without compromising its capital base and concealed certain features of the transaction, according to the Bank of Italy, the country’s central bank. The Siena magistrates are now looking into allegations of bribery related to the Antonveneta deal.
Alessandro Profumo, Monte dei Paschi’s chairman, and Mr. Viola, who took over as chief executive last year, are now working to repair the bank’s finances and reputation. They replaced executives, closed branches and announced the elimination of thousands of jobs.
The bank had to ask for a government bailout because its troubles had left it short of the minimum capital requirement set by regulators.
Gaia Pianigiani reported from Rome. Jack Ewing contributed reporting from Frankfurt.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/business/global/italian-lender-sues-deutsche-bank-and-nomura.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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