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Italian bank realigns risk management after losses

Posted On: Jul. 30, 2007 12:00 AM CST

MILAN, Italy—Directors and auditors at Banca Italease S.p.A. have resigned and the bank has realigned its risk management department in the wake of huge losses on derivatives contracts.

The Bank of Italy requested that Milan-based Banca Italease directors resign after the bank reported a loss of €686 million from derivatives trading. Banca Italease reported a net loss of €387.7 million for the first half of this year.

The bank announced that all but two of its directors and one acting statutory auditor resigned following an order from the Bank of Italy.

As part of a reorganization, Banca Italease said in a statement that in order to guard against such losses in the future, it has created a team that includes a new head of planning and control, administration and risk management.

As part of its restructuring, the bank's risk management department "will reinforce its activity concerning the measurement of risks, as well as the techniques used for evaluation of capital adequacy," Banca Italese said.