itThe Association of Private Retirement Schemes for Liberal Professions (ADEPP), which represents Italy’s Casse di Previdenza, said that it would support a recapitalisation of Atlante, the €4 billion investment fund tasked with salvaging the troubled Italian banking sector.

The amount ADEPP will provide has not been revealed, but it has been suggested that private retirement funds might contribute €500 million in total to the fund.

The new backstop fund, called Atlante 2, will probably take over all non-performing loans belonging to struggling lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, buying them above market price. In exchange, investors are promised high returns over the coming years.

Some funds, though, are sceptical about the plan. The association of accountants (ADC) wrote a letter to Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, saying its pension assets are not on offer.

‘Not a single euro of our fund will be distracted from the purpose it is intended for: to provide assistance and adequate security to chartered accountants,’ the letter reads.

  Modern Investor / La Tribune