Bankitalia appoints commissioners for the reorganisation of Bff Bank: focus on factoring and internal controls

Bff Bank has received an order from the Bank of Italia as part of its supervisory inspections. Bankitalia has appointed Raffaele Lener and Francesco Fioretto as commissioners to temporarily assist the board of directors, to 'assist it in the rapid process of reorganisation of the operational-accounting framework and in the management of remedial actions in the credit sector relating to the factoring business and the system of internal controls, already initiated by the bank'.

The Board of Directors and the Board of Statutory Auditors therefore continue to maintain full powers and their decision-making authority unchanged. As stated in a note, 'the findings and related remedial actions already initiated extend to the system of internal controls and organisational controls, with particular reference to the accounting and credit management systems. The evidence that has emerged so far is part of a framework of irregularities and criticalities whose overall scope is currently being defined'.

In particular, in the context of the general inspection, which is still in progress, the Bank of Italia identified critical issues relating to the factoring and lending sector and the classification of loans for prudential purposes. In any case, it said, 'the bank continues to comply with Cet1 capital requirements'.

While waiting for the final quantification of the impacts of the bank's revision and reorganisation, the Bank of Italy, in the order sent to Bff Bank, requested the bank to 'delay the presentation of the draft 2025 balance sheet no later than 30 April 2026 and its approval by the shareholders' meeting no later than 30 June 2026'.