Roundup: Pensioner's suicide triggers debate on banking sector in Italy

The story of an elderly man who has committed suicide after he lost his life savings that he had invested in one of the banks rescued by a government decree has triggered indignant reactions in Italy.

Luigino D'Angelo, a pensioner aged 68, reportedly hung himself at his home in Civitavecchia, a small city in central Italy.

The local press said his wife found a letter in which he explained the reasons for his tragic decision: D'Angelo had lost more than 100,000 euros (over 109,487 U.S. dollars) that he had invested in the Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio bank.

"Will I be able to go on with my life without him? I do not know," his wife told reporters on Thursday.

Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio along with Banca delle Marche, Cassa di risparmio di Ferrara and Cassa di risparmio di Chieti are the four banks in financial troubles that the center-left government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi rescued from bankrupt in November.

A government decree allowed some healthy banks - UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Ubi Banca - to invest roughly 3.6 billion euros to keep alive the four small banks, whose bad loans will go into a bad bank.

But the rescue also caused bonds and shares worth more than 300 million euros to disappear, which means that thousands of citizens like D'Angelo saw their investments go up in smoke.

"I have taken a decision. In the next days I will withdraw most of my savings and give them to my sons," an 84-year-old elderly lady, Anna Serena Lalli, told Xinhua on Thursday. She said her bank was not among the four involved in the case, but also was a small one.

"I am afraid. I have saved money for all my life in order to live decently during old age and also leave something to my sons. I even gave up meat many times to save a little money. Now I heard that I could lose everything, and I just cannot believe it," she added.

Experts noted that it is impossible by European Union (EU) rules to definitively save the unlucky shareholders and bondholders. In fact those who have invested in certain kinds of bonds did so in search of better returns than safer or State bonds could grant, La Stampa newspaper explained.

"It is a legitimate choice, as long as it is accompanied by a clear perception of the fact that higher yields come together with higher risks of losing part or all of one's own assets," La Stampa explained in an economic analysis.

"However, should have the investors' choice be triggered by insufficient or false information by the banks, then we would be faced with an offense," the newspaper underlined.

Italian consumers association Codacons said on Thursday that it had asked prosecutors to investigate the alleged crime of instigation to commit suicide over the pensioner's case. Later on the same day, the local press said prosecutors in Civitavecchia had opened a probe.

In a country with a stark gap between the poorer and richer, pensioners are among the weakest categories. More than 40 percent of pensioners in Italy, which means over 6.5 million people, get less than 1,000 euros a month, according to 2014 figures published by national statistics institute Istat earlier this month.

Renzi said on Thursday that his government was "trying to find a solution" within the limits of the EU rules. "We are working on it," he was quoted by the local press as saying, expressing his condolences to the pensioner's family but also warning against "exploiting" his suicide.

Renzi also added that the Italian government was looking favorably on parliament opening commissions of inquiry on what has happened in the Italian and European banking systems in the last few years, in order to assess all responsibilities. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit