Italy Ailing Banks May Lose $11 Billion in Bad Loan Sales
- Troubled banks have $22 billion in net bad loans, Visco says
- ECB governing council member Ignazio Visco speaks in Rome
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Italy’s troubled banks may suffer an additional 10 billion euros ($11 billion) in losses from the sale of their bad loans at current market prices, said Ignazio Visco, Bank of Italy governor and ECB governing council member.
“If they were sold at the very low prices offered by the few large specialist debt collection agencies active in the market today, which pursue very high returns, the amount of additional writedowns would be in the order of 10 billion euros,” Visco said on Wednesday at the central bank’s annual meeting in Rome. He pointed out that the country’s troubled banks have 20 billion euros in net bad loans.