Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (BNL) is an Italian bank headquartered in Rome. It is Italy's sixth largest bank and has been a subsidiary of BNP Paribas since 2006.

History

Founded in 1913 as Istituto Nazionale di Credito per la Cooperazione, it was nationalized in 1929. It was re-privatized and listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 1998, before being acquired by French banking group BNP Paribas in 2006. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro began Argentine operations in 1960, ultimately opening 91 branches, before selling its operation there to

HSBC Bank Argentina HSBC Bank Argentina S.A. is the principal HSBC operating company in Argentina. The seventh-largest bank in the country, it provides a full range of banking and financial products and services, including commercial, consumer and corporate banking, ...

in 2006. In 2016 the company opened a contemporary all glass building for their headquarter: BNL BNP Paribas headquarters.

Scandals

The bank was involved in a major political scandal (dubbed Iraqgate by the media) when it was revealed in 1989 that the

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, branch of the bank was making unauthorized loans of more than US$4.5 billion to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. Many of the loans that the branch made were guaranteed by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Commodity Credit Corporation The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) is a wholly owned United States government corporation that was created in 1933 to "stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices" (federally chartered by the CCC Charter Act of 1948 (P.L. 80-806) ...

program. The loans were originally intended to finance agricultural exports to Iraq, but were diverted by Iraq to buy weapons. The branch manager, Christopher Drogoul, indicated that the bank's headquarters office was aware of these loans, but senior bank official denied this. Drogoul pleaded guilty to three felony charges and served 33 months in federal prison.

Ownership

At the year end of 2004 the major shareholders with more than 2% were #

BBVA Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and is present ...

14.75190% #

Assicurazioni Generali Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. ( , ; meaning 'general insurances') or simply Generali Group is an Italian insurance company based in Trieste. As of 2019, it is the largest of its kind in Italy and among the top ten largest insurance companies in ...

8.71980% #

Diego Della Valle Diego Della Valle (born 30 December 1953) is the chairman of the Italian leather goods company '' Tod's''. Biography Family, youth and studies Diego Della Valle is the elder son of Dorino Della Valle and grandson of Filippo Della Valle. Fili ...

(Dorint Holding S.A.) 4.99436% # Stefano Ricucci Trust (Magiste International S.A.) 4.98985% # Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone 4.96904% # Danilo Coppola (PACOP SpA) 4.92611% # Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena 4.41788% #

Giuseppe Statuto Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Giuse ...

(Michele Amari Srl) 4.09248% #

Banca Popolare di Vicenza Banca Popolare di Vicenza (BPVi) was an Italian bank and currently a winding-down company. The banking group along was the 15th-largest retail and corporate bank of Italy by total assets at 31 December 2016, according to Mediobanca. However, its si ...

3.63682% #

Vito Bonsignore Vito Bonsignore (born 3 July 1943 in Bronte, Catania, Sicily) is an Politics of Italy, Italian politician. Biography Bonsignore graduated in economics and commerce in Messina, he was manager of the Turin-Alessandria-Piacenza (SATAP) Autostrade pe ...

(Gefip Holding SpA) 3.07572% After a short period of

Unipol Unipol Gruppo S.p.A. is an Italian financial services holding company operating in the insurance and banking fields with headquarters in the Unipol Tower, Bologna. As of 2009 it was ranked as the country's fourth-largest insurer. The company t ...

minority ownership as well as the exposed

bancopoli "Bancopoli" was the name coined by the Italian press for the finance and banking scandals between July 2005 and January 2006. The Italian Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI), in competition with Holland's ABN AMRO for control of Banca Antonveneta, was ...

scandal, BNP Paribas signed an agreement with 13 shareholders of BNL, representing 48% shares of BNL on 6 February 2006. BNP Paribas also made offer to buy all the remain shares from the public and delisted the company from Borsa Italiana. MPS sold the shares to

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instead.

Gallery

File:Napoli - palazzo della Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.jpg, BNL building in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

File:Trieste Palac Genel 2.jpg, BNL building in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

File:Venice - Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (4841222851).jpg, BNL building in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

File:Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. Lucca, Italy.JPG, BNL building in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

References

External links