About

After nearly 100 years of operation in the banking sector, Consorzio di Credito per le Opere Pubbliche (Crediop) is facing difficult times. The Italian infrastructure and public utilities specialist lender, formerly the largest privately owned bank providing finance to Italian local administrations, ran into trouble when its majority shareholder, Franco-Belgian Dexia Group, became one of the first big casualties of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. By 2012 Dexia had been placed into a European Commission resolution plan. A protracted period of uncertainty followed for its Italian subsidiary, which has had to restructuring ahead of a potential sale while facing the prospect of liquidation. Edoardo Baratella, general counsel and company secretary of Dexia Crediop, is widely credited with keeping the organisation running smoothly during this period of heavy turbulence. He is a member of the bank’s steering committee and has played a prominent role facilitating negotiations between its owners and the Italian government over the past months. Last year Baratella represented the bank in a highly unusual interest-rate swap case against the city of Prato. The case, which saw the Tuscan municipality successfully argue before a London court that swap contracts it had entered into prior to the financial crisis were void on a technicality, could see other Italian municipalities pursue damages against the bank.