What an odd way to save a bank. So far Italy has been spared a government-backed bank bail-out of any size. The drawback to this happy state of affairs is Rome hasn’t had to rehearse. Now a chance to put on a virtuoso performance has cropped up; the libretto is at times confusing, but Rome got there in the end.

Banca Italease, a leasing company, needs €1.2bn to stay afloat. Having dabbled disastrously in derivatives and property loans, its core tier one capital ratio, a key measure of a bank’s financial health, is a paltry 1.8 per cent. Rather than Rome, however, the rescue falls to Verona-based Banco Popolare, which owns 88 per cent. Yet Popolare, an amalgamation of mutual regional banks, had a core tier one capital ratio of only 5.2 per cent before the deal. It does not have deep pockets.