The games being played on Mount Titano

End of summer of construction sites in San Marino. On the banking front, the controversy and requests for clarification on the ventilated sale (there has been talk of it since last March) of one of the last four commercial banks still present on the Titan (the Banca di San Marino) to the group of the Bulgarian investor Milkov Christov Assen has been triggered. Just in the past few days, a sign that the matter is coming back to the fore, there has been an intervention by Giuseppe Morganti, an exponent of Libera San Marino (a centre-left party that has been part of the current government coalition since July 2024). Morganti, as a member of Ente Cassa di Faetano (a 90% shareholder of Bds) asked, with the signatures of 118 other members, that once the Central Bank (an institution homologous to the Bank of Italy) arrives at a positive opinion on the sale, expected by the end of September, the shareholders' meeting and not the Board of Directors of Ente Cassa should decide directly on the possible sale. Morganti was immediately reprimanded by the Cassa's board of directors: 'disrespectful and alarmist statements'. A squabble that, in any case, shows the pulse of a very hot situation. On the other hand, Marco Gatti, the San Marino Government's Secretary of State for Finance, when questioned by Plus24, emphasised that: "Beyond the particular case of the BdS, the importance of the capital adjustment of the entire San Marino banking system appears to be a central theme. Especially in view of the entry into force of the Association Agreements between San Marino and the European Commission, which are of absolute significance for the local economy and finance and which should be signed by 2025'.

On the 'Bulgarian track', on the other hand, the favourable opinion of the local supervisory authority does not appear to be a foregone conclusion. In view of the fact that, according to the findings of Plus24, talks have been going on for months between the BCSM and the equivalent authorities of other EU countries. One channel open in particular is the one with Germany's BaFin, which has been monitoring with particular attention the activities of a small German bank, Varengold Bank, which is owned by the Bulgarian group led by Assen. In particular, Varengold has allegedly had dealings with Iran in the past that BaFin considers insufficiently clarified. In addition to this, the BCSM would have asked the selling party for a dense list of clarifications aimed at ascertaining the real suitability of the Sofia group to operate in San Marino territory.

It is also awaiting the establishment in San Marino of the LifeStar Holding insurance group, a company listed on the Valletta Stock Exchange, Maltese by law but Italian by de facto, given that it is headed by Paolo Catalfamo, formerly of Franklin Templeton, a money manager active between Italy and the United States (particularly Florida). What will LifeStar do in San Marino (besides offering life insurance policies in partnership with the local Cassa di Risparmio)? As far as Plus understands, there are two possible paths: the first is the creation of a high-level private equity pole aimed at international investors. The second is that of the foundation of a Private Bank in partnership with the Cassa di Risparmio di San Marino to develop a pole in asset management, in which case too the request for authorisation has already been filed with the Central Bank,

Therefore, in September, Banca Centrale led by Catia Tomasetti (former president of the Roman multi-utility Acea, and partner of the Bonelli Erede law firm) and directed by Andrea Vivoli, will have a very busy and varied agenda. In fact, the Central Bank, together with the San Marino State, has joined the civil action in the trial against the predecessors of Tomasetti and Vivoli, the Egyptian Wafik Grais and Lorenzo Savorelli, who have already been sentenced by the local justice system at first instance, together with the Italian financier Francesco Confuorti, who is considered the hidden director of an untheatrical and very financial play aimed at infiltrating the local banking supervisory authorities in order to obtain personal and team advantages. The main charge is criminal conspiracy. The appeal trial will start again in September.