BANKING AND FINANCE – The Italian Supreme Court on the invalidity of the interest rate in the event of Euribor manipulation

On 13 December 2023, the Italian Supreme Court issued its judgment in case No. 34889/2023, stating that the provisions of a leasing agreement regulating the applicable interest rate are invalid when such interest rate is fixed on the basis of a Euribor which has been subject to market manipulation by financial institutions (in the case at hand, the Euribor had been subject to manipulation between September 2005 and May 2008, as determined by the European Antitrust Commission (the “Commission”) in its Decision dated 4 December 2013). The Italian Supreme Court held that, since any contract that constitutes an application of market manipulation falls under the scope of Article 2 of Law No. 287/1990, the Commission’s decision shall be considered as privileged evidence in declaring the interest rate provided for in the specific leasing agreement invalid, notwithstanding the fact that the leasing agreement was entered into with a financial institution which did not take part in the market manipulation.

Newsletter n. 92 – January 2024