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MNI EXCLUSIVE: End Of Zero-Risk Govvies May Harm EZ Bond Mkts

MNI (London)
--Ending Preferential Zero-Risk Bonds Not Key To Ending Risk - Source
--Italian Banks In Line For Hit If New Bank Holding Rules Adopted
By Slivia Marchetti
     ROME (MNI) - Ending the preferential treatment of European government
securities held by banks is not key to systemic risk reduction and may
destabilise bond markets across Europe, a senior Italian government official
told MNI.
     "This is a non-problem, thinking that the link between sovereign debt and
lenders is a crisis-trigger. Italy's banks have suffered in the past due to the
economic downturn and not because of the amount of bonds on their balance
sheets," argued the source.
     "Above all, adopting tighter rules, or placing a cap on government
securities held by banks, would only be counterproductive. The risk is to hinder
the natural functioning of bond markets across the whole eurozone," he warned.
     European regulators have been considering the problem of banks sovereign
holdings since the eurozone debt crisis and, ahead of the creation of a full
banking union, they are looking for solutions.
     Other concrete, more domestic threats to ending the so-called 'zero-risk'
sovereign era include making debt issuance tougher, as government bonds would
have a risk linked to a country's debt rating, thus rendering them less
appealing on the market.
     --HITS BANK LENDING
     Italian banks would also be required to put aside capital proportional to
the degree of their exposure, depriving the real economy of crucial capital
flows at a time when the economy is finally gaining some momentum.
     The source noted that the benefits of tighter macro-prudential rules on
sovereign exposure remained uncertain, but that there would be one clear
outcome; it would cause "wide and unpredictable" movements of capital within the
European bond market.
     "Sovereign exposure has always been an excuse not to pursue along greater
burden-sharing at European level, but public debt reduction must be dealt with
at national level and not tackled with rules set at a higher European level,"
said the official.
     The current Rome government actually believes that in certain situations,
banks' sovereign exposure may, in fact, act as a buffer, stabilising against the
risk of financial contagion.
     Placing caps on bank sovereign bonds holdings, especially in times of
system-wide tension, can end up fuelling crises and increasing market
speculation, therefore causing exactly what the regulation aims to avoid, argued
the source.
     "If any country faces a sovereign debt crisis, this expands to the economy
and by extension to its banks. It's not the other way round. The drastic
restructuring of any large public debt has inevitable repercussions on the
entire eurozone, just look at what happened in Greece," the source said.
     --ITALIAN IMPACT
     Italian banks have large holdings of sovereign bonds in their portfolios,
among the highest levels in the eurozone. Their sovereign exposure totals around
E400 billion, amounting to 15% of total assets as opposed to an average 6% in
the rest of Europe.
     In recent years, the outgoing Democrat-led government has succeeded in
rallying support, especially among other southern debt-ridden members such as
Portugal, Greece and Spain, where ending 'zero-risk' on sovereign holdings would
have similar negative impact.
     The government source expressed confidence that the new German government,
which has already opened-up to a new, less-austere EU path, could also
eventually soften its stance on risk reduction.
     Despite Italy's current political turmoil, whichever Italian party or
coalition governs will continue the crusade against tighter sovereign exposure
rules, the source said.
--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$E$$$,M$I$$$,M$X$$$,MC$$$$,MI$$$$,MX$$$$,MGX$$$]
MNI London Bureau | +44 203-865-3812 | les.commons@marketnews.com

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