BFF Bank slumps as it signals broader accounting issues, restructuring commissioners appointed

BFF Bank SpA

30/03/2026 10:02

March 30 (Reuters) - Shares of Italy's BFF Bank BFF.MI plunged more than 53% on Monday, a day after it said the Bank of Italy had named two extraordinary commissioners to temporarily support the lender's board in rapid restructuring of its factoring business and internal control system.

Reuters reported in February, citing sources, that Milan prosecutors had opened an investigation into alleged false accounting at BFF.

BFF warned on Sunday that inspections by the central bank could result in additional past-due credit exposure of up to 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) due to irregularities in its factoring and lending business.

The lender has also initiated analysis on ancillary credit rights payments between 2015 and 2025, with potential economic effects of 3.4 million euros, it said.

Cash-handling issues flagged in February may therefore be more extensive than initially reported.

The bank's CEO Massimiliano Belingheri stepped down in early February after the bank cut its 2026 targets and restated past earnings, before the investigation was reported.

Back then, BFF said that 54 million euros in payments from debtors, which should have been booked against invoice principal, were instead recorded as repayments of ancillary credit rights. This resulted in a 15.1 million euro reduction in shareholders' equity, Jefferies said in a research note on Sunday.

"The findings are part of a wider picture of irregularities and critical issues whose overall scope is still under assessment," BFF said in a statement.

BFF will hold a call to update the market on Monday at 1 p.m. (1100 GMT). Its shares fell to their lowest levels on record in the first hours of trading.

($1 = 0.8693 euros)

(Reporting by Mirko Miorelli in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((Mirko.miorelli@thomsonreuters.com))