Companies in difficulty, Busi’s (Chianti) shocking statement: “suspend Basle to guarantee liquidity”

Wine companies are still unable to easily access funds and loans to accelerate the recovery due to the economic crisis that Covid-19 has generated, and “without money, without liquidity, businesses will not go anywhere, they will float until they die”, stated Giovanni Busi, president of the Chianti Consortium. Banks are not fulfilling their task of giving a new impetus to the national economy, in this situation. Therefore, the government must guarantee companies receive liquidity”. The loan system has not been simplified, as the Government repeatedly declared, and there are still many aspects complicating access to funds. According to Busi, due to the emergency, it is necessary at this stage to interrupt the Basel agreements that regulate the banks’ capital requirements and have repercussions on the provision of credit. “We are asking that the Basel rules be temporarily suspended to allow companies to have liquidity and to invest. We are in the midst of an exceptional crisis and we need exceptional rules; otherwise, it will be impossible to get out of it”, added the president of the Chianti Consortium.
National announcements and discussions on aid interventions for farms have been repeated, for months, but concrete and practical support has continued to be missing. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, wonderful things have been said, the government has talked about loans to the agricultural sector all the way up to 75% of the previous year’s turnover. Then, there has also been talk of other funds, but so far we have seen very little”. There are existing clauses and procedures that slow down, and often prevent, the possibility of receiving loans, “such as the need for companies to be performing as of December 31, 2019”, continued Busi, “which is an element that complicates everything even more”.
Other problems include banking resolution. “The state guarantee is of little use if then the bank resolution becomes necessary. It is like asking for a regular loan. And banks cannot blame us if we fail, in this epochal crisis, to carry on the company as we would like to”. This is the reason why credit institutions’ choices are actually holding back economic recovery in a historic moment that is extremely challenging. “They are using the bank guarantee not to grant an investment loan, but to cover existing debts. The current conditions”, concluded Busi, “make it impossible to plan resources to deal with the crisis. If we had another banking system, the story would probably be different”.