2017-10-21 13:00

Bad Bankers Turn Iconic Italian Region‘s Miracle Into Nightmare

REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
The Most Serene Republic, as the area around Venice was known for a millennium, is now the troubled epicenter of a banking meltdown that‘s threatening to derail one of globalization‘s great success stories.

The base of brands like Benetton, De‘Longhi, Geox and Luxottica, Veneto has also become home to as many as 40,000 small businesses suddenly stranded without access to financing since a pair of regional banks collapsed in June.

The implosions of Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca, which also wiped out the life savings of many of their 200,000 shareholders, set off economic and political tremors felt from Rome to Frankfurt. Anger over what many view as lax oversight by national authorities is animating a movement for more autonomy that‘s already emboldened by Catalonia‘s efforts to split from Spain.

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