Following the scandalous bankruptcies of Parmalat and Ciro in 2003, and the consequent discontent among Italian retailers that had invested in the bonds issued by the Ciro and Parmalat group companies, the Government and the main financial authorities launched a discussion on comprehensive reform of Italian legislation governing savings, investor protection and markets/banking supervision.
A draft law on the matter was submitted to parliament by the Ministry of the Economy on 17 February, 2004. This was then assigned for discussion to a group of key parliamentary commissions from 4 March onwards. Ten other legislative projects – including those concerning the implementation of European Commission (EC) Directive 2002/87 on the supplemental supervision of major financial groups and of EC Directive 2003/6 on insider trading and market manipulation – have since been assigned for debate in conjunction with the draft law. A consolidated text of this law was finally approved by the commissions on 5 May and will serve as a base for further proceedings aimed at the passage of a long-awaited law to reform the Italian financial and banking sector.
