Consob resolution no. 18772

Temporary prohibition of short selling in shares issued by Banco Popolare Sc (BANCO POPOLARE), pursuant to Article 23 of the Regulation (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council no. 236 of 14 March 2012

THE ITALIAN COMPANIES AND STOCK EXCHANGE COMMISSION (CONSOB)

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of June 7, 1974, as subsequently amended and integrated;

HAVING REGARD TO Regulation (EU) no. 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14, 2012;

HAVING REGARD TO Article 4-ter(2) of Legislative Decree no. 58 of February 24, 1998, according to which Consob is appointed with the task to implement the measures and exercise the functions and powers provided by Regulation (EU) no. 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14, 2012 with reference to shares, among others;

HAVING REGARD TO Article 12 of Regulation (EU) no. 236/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14, 2012, imposing restrictions on uncovered short sales in shares;

HAVING REGARD TO Article 23 of the above-mentioned Regulation (EU) no. 236/2012, which defines the power to temporarily restrict short selling of financial instruments in the case of a significant fall in price;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT the relevant threshold in the case of the BANCO POPOLARE share is equal to 10%;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THAT the fall of the price of BANCO POPOLARE share during January 27, 2014 compared to the closing price on the previous trading day, was greater than 10%;

CONSIDERING THAT the information background does not completely validate the above-mentioned price fluctuation and, therefore, downward speculation phenomena shall not be excluded;

RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:

1. The prohibition of short selling in BANCO POPOLARE shares (ISIN code: IT0004231566) on the MTA, a regulated market organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., under Article 23 of the above-mentioned Regulation, taking effect from 13.00 CET of January 27, 2014 to the end of the trading day of January 28, 2014.

2. It is clarified that, pursuant to Article 23(3), the above-mentioned prohibition does not apply to the activity of market making, as defined by Article 2(1)(k) of the aforementioned Regulation.

This resolution is transmitted to ESMA and published on the Consob website.

Rome, 27 January 2014

THE CHAIRMAN
Giuseppe Vegas