Stiff sentences for bank fraud capture Italy’s sour public mood
Populist politicians think widespread anger at bankers plays in their favour
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/2019/11/articles/main/20191116_fnp501.jpg)
IN THE VAULTS of Monte dei Paschi di Siena is a torn and yellowing sheet of paper: a death sentence from the 15th century, handed down for trying to steal gold from what may be the world’s oldest bank. Monte Paschi’s archivists now have another historic sentence for their files. On November 8th a court in Milan convicted former executives for hiding vast losses from derivatives transactions a decade ago, in collusion with bankers from Deutsche Bank and Nomura. It was one of the harshest penalties imposed anywhere relating to the financial crisis.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The reckoning continues”
Finance & economics November 16th 2019
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