Antonio Fazio

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Antonio Fazio

Antonio Fazio (born October 11, 1936 in Alvito, province of Frosinone) was the Governor of Banca d'Italia from his appointment in 1993 to 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. The youngest of his daughters has been consecrated to the order of Legionaries of Christ, a lay religious organization (some newspapers reported incorrectly she was becoming a nun).

1 Career
2 The Antonveneta affair
- 2.1 Reaction of the government
- 2.2 Investigations and resignation
3 References

[edit] Career

In 1993, after his predecessor Carlo Azeglio Ciampi left office to become the Prime Minister of Italy, 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.

[edit] The Antonveneta affair

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 sounder, foreign bid from Dutch bank ABN AMRO.

Moreover, there were issues of conflict of interest: although the newspapers have largely stayed clear of this aspect, Fazio's daughter is widely thought in Italy to be in an intimate relationship with the chief executive of the Italian bank that Fazio supposedly favoured, Gianpiero Fiorani.

[edit] Reaction of the government

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 September 21, 2005, economy minister Domenico Siniscalco resigned in protest against the lack of determination in the government^[1]. The government maintained that it had no power to remove the president of the central bank.

[edit] Investigations and resignation

Gianpiero Fiorani was arrested on December 14, 2005 for investigation of his role in the affair, and Fazio was officially put under investigation in Milan for insider trading on December 16^[2]. 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.

Although he had resisted calls to resign for months, these latest developments were the last straw, and Fazio stepped down on December 19, 2005^[3]. A new governor, Mario Draghi, was appointed on December 29, 2005.