Italy's Deputy PM Calls for Independent Leadership at Market Watchdog

Need for Independent Market Oversight

By Alvise Armellini and Giuseppe Fonte

Current Situation and Leadership Changes

ROME, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Italy's next market watchdog chief should be independent of the government to avoid any suspicion of political interference in business matters, Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday.

Political Influence and Regulatory Concerns

Outgoing Consob President Paolo Savona, 89, completes his seven-year term in early March.

Reactions from Opposition and Investors

Treasury Junior Minister Federico Freni, a League party lawmaker like Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, is the leading candidate to replace Savona, but Tajani has been blocking his appointment for weeks.

"Consob, a regulatory body, should be led by a non-politician after all the events that have taken place in the banking world, including judicial investigations," Tajani, leader of the co-ruling Forza Italia party, told Sky tg24.

Opposition parties have criticised the government for supporting state-backed bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena's (MPS) takeover of rival Mediobanca.

Prosecutors in Milan are examining the acquisition to determine whether MPS Chief Executive Luigi Lovaglio and the bank's two major investors acted in coordination while keeping supervisory authorities and other investors in the dark. All parties deny any wrongdoing.

Freni's supporters note that Savona served as EU affairs minister in 2018 and 2019 before becoming Consob chief, while previous head of the regulator, Giuseppe Vegas, had been a Treasury deputy minister.

"The situation was completely different at the time of Vegas. There were no judicial investigations underway," Tajani said.

An MPS board member resigned on Wednesday after being placed under investigation for alleged insider trading.

Stefano Di Stefano, who is also a senior Treasury official, is being probed over the purchase of shares in MPS and Mediobanca around the time of the MPS bid.

Italy's government has also angered large asset managers by promoting legislation that helped leading shareholders maintain tight control of listed companies, penalising minority investors.

The International Corporate Governance Network, representing investors with $90 trillion in assets under management, wrote a letter to Freni in December saying the new rules "could undermine confidence in the Italian market."

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Giuseppe Fonte. Editing by Mark Potter)