The Ministry of Economy and Finance announces that, starting on 26 March 2009 and through the end of the year, Italian banks may file an application for being admitted to a programme whereby State guarantees will be granted on the liabilities of the bank and on the transactions executed by the bank for the purpose of obtaining the temporary availability of securities for refinancing transactions through the Eurosystem, as well as for temporary securities exchange transactions (Article 1, Paragraphs 1, 3 and 2 of Decree-Law 157 of 13 October 2008, that was then incorporated into Article 1-bis of Decree-Law 155/2008, converted with amendments into Law 190/2008). The coordinated text of Decree-Law n.155/2008, the conversion law n.190/2008, and the provisions of the implementation of such legislation (Ministerial Decree 27/11/2008) may be consulted at: http://www.mef.gov.it/primo-piano/article_0026.html
The applications, which need to be prepared according to the facsimile available on the Treasury Department's web site (http://www.dt.tesoro.it/it/interventi_financial/dl_155-2008.html -Collegamento a sito esterno) must be sent to the Treasury Department and to the Bank of Italy in accordance with the terms and conditions indicated in the compilation instructions provided as an exhibit to the facsimile.
In particular, the transactions referenced in Paragraph 2 of Decree-Law 157/2008, whose applications are to be filed by banks on any Tuesday or Thursday (other than holidays) through the end of the year, refer to the exchange between special-purpose government securities issued by the Treasury, which are known as Treasury Exchange Certificates (Certificati di Scambio del Tesoro (CST)), and an equal nominal amount of certificates of deposit (CDs), that the qualifying banks will arrange to issue with the same financial characteristics as the CSTs.
The banks interested in participating in these transactions will also need to fill a form authorizing the Bank of Italy to carry out cash transactions related to their book entries at Monte Titoli S.p.A.
he CSTs will have a final maturity date of 30 June 2010; the issue price and the reimbursement price are equal to par; and a single coupon is to be paid at the maturity or at the expiration of the exchange transaction (in this last case for the accrual component). New CSTs will be issued for each transaction, with their settlement and first accrual date three days after the transaction date (T+3). The transactions will be carried out, as a rule, on a weekly basis, as based on the banks' requests received that are deemed suitable in conformity with the procedure provided by Article 8 of the aforementioned Ministerial Decree of 27/11/2008.
It is worth reminding that the transactions may have a maximum term of six months and may be renewed for the same maximum term; in such cases, no new CSTs will be issued.
The Treasury reserves the right to issue CSTs having a maturity date equal to that of the exchange transaction if required by market conditions or if there are reasons for not issuing securities with an expiration date of 30 June 2010. Should market conditions or any other situation impede the issuance of the CSTs, the Treasury reserves the right to carry out the transactions making use of other types of securities.