By Stefano Bernabei
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's banks came under fire at a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday where they faced accusations of hampering the rollout of state-guaranteed loans to businesses hit by the coronavirus.
Two weeks after the government approved emergency liquidity measures to prop up the economy, Italian firms on Monday started requesting loans of up to 25,000 euros (21,970.68 pounds).
Under the measures, the 100% state guarantee on such loans should exempt banks from needing to assess creditworthiness. However, banking and union officials have said some lenders are carrying out more in-depth checks than required.
"There have been a number of requests, which are not envisaged by the law, from leading banks asking for financial statements, business plans and other documents," League MP Massimo Bitonci told the hearing.
Giovanni Sabatini, the director general of Italian banking lobby ABI, said that credit and anti-money laundering checks were necessary for all state-guaranteed loans other than the smaller ones worth up 25,000 euros.
"To speed up procedures the law should shield banks from legal consequences," Sabatini said.
However, he said ABI had also been informed that some banks were requesting financial or income statements from borrowers for the smaller loans.
"We worked alongside the Treasury to clarify that banks can rely on what companies declare and there is no need to go over their earnings statements," Sabatini said.
The legal dangers banks face under Italian law if borrowers default are making them tread very carefully, banking officials have told Reuters, delaying much-needed support.
"Banks are doing their best but they certainly cannot solve all the problems of the Italian economy alone," ABI said in a statement on Monday.
The rollout of the liquidity measures this week has led to tensions between bank staff and customers, according to unions, culminating in a package containing a petrol tank and a bullet being left inside a bank branch.
"Actions have been flagged on the part of banks which are not in line with the spirit and the text of the decree," Claudio Mancini, of the ruling PD party said.
Mancini said that banks had also been telling companies to use part of the money received under the scheme to pay down their existing debts.
Italian banks are bracing for a new wave of corporate defaults just as they were emerging from a painful restructuring to rid their balance sheets of the legacies of past recessions.
On Wednesday UniCredit (MI:CRDI) became the first major euro zone bank to say it would write down the value of its loans to reflect the economic hit from the new coronavirus - increasing pressure on rivals to follow suit.
Smaller peer BPER Banca (MI:EMII) said it was considering whether to do the same.
BPER CEO Alessandro Vandelli said the bank had received 3,000 requests for loans with a 100% state guarantee in the first two days and was working to speed up procedures.
(Additional reporting and writing by Valentina Za; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)