The Treasury repurchases 5 billion in government bonds via competitive auction

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has ordered a buyback operation of outstanding government bonds through a competitive auction, for a total nominal amount not exceeding 5,000 million euros. The decree of October 5, 2026, signed by the Director General of the Treasury Eleonora Iacovoni, is published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series no. 236 of October 10, 2026, with the official reference 26A05309.

The operation is based on Article 3 of the “Consolidated text of legislative and regulatory provisions regarding public debt” (Decree of the President of the Republic December 30, 2003, no. 398) and the framework decree no. 58779 of December 31, 2025, which defines the objectives, limits, and methods of the Treasury Department’s operations for the 2026 financial year. The measure declares two purposes: to reduce the amount of public debt and to modify the profile of maturities and coupon payments falling due in particularly critical months.

The bonds subject to buyback

The auction concerns three multi-year Treasury bonds, identified by ISIN code:

• BTP IT0005660052, issued on July 15, 2025, maturity January 15, 2029, coupon 2.35%;
• BTP IT0005467482, issued on November 15, 2021, maturity February 15, 2029, coupon 0.45%;
• BTP IT0005689960, issued on January 15, 2026, maturity March 15, 2029, coupon 2.40%.

How the auction works and who can participate

The execution of the operations is entrusted to the Bank of Italy, according to the convention between the Bank and the operators admitted to the placement, purchase, and exchange operations of government bonds. The main rules are:

• specialist government bond operators referred to in Article 23 of ministerial decree no. 216 of December 22, 2009, who act on their own behalf and on behalf of clients, are admitted;
• each operator may submit up to five offers for each bond, specifying the nominal capital and requested price, with a minimum variation of one thousandth;
• each offer cannot be less than one million euros of nominal capital;
• offers had to be received by 11:00 AM on October 5, 2026, exclusively electronically to the Bank of Italy;
• the auction takes place via an automatic procedure at the Bank of Italy premises, with a Ministry official acting as a certifying officer, and the result is made known via press release;
• the Ministry may exclude offers at prices deemed inconvenient and may not purchase the full amount offered at the highest accepted price, proceeding instead with a pro-rata allocation.

Regulation, extinction, and accounting profile

The settlement of the purchased securities is set for October 7, 2026, through the Bank of Italy, with the payment of accrued interest equal to eighty-four days for the BTP 15/01/2029, fifty-three days for the BTP 15/02/2029, and twenty-two days for the BTP 15/03/2029. Monte Titoli S.p.a. (now Euronext Securities Milan) is entrusted with the cancellation of the securities via bookkeeping in the centralized accounts, with notification to the Ministry within one month of the settlement date. All acts regarding the purchase are exempt from registration tax, stamp duty, and government and postal concession taxes; the charges for principal and interest are borne by chapters 9502 and 2214 of the Ministry’s expenditure forecast.

The operation directly affects the public debt and the secondary market for government bonds: it reduces the debt in circulation, anticipates the redemption of three BTPs with near-term maturities, and concentrates demand on primary dealers. It should be noted that the decree is published in the Official Gazette on October 10, 2026, after the deadline for submitting bids and after the settlement date of the operations, both of which were set in the first week of October.

Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series no. 236 of October 10, 2026 — Ministry of Economy and Finance, decree of October 5, 2026, “Government bond buyback operation via competitive auction” (26A05309), p. 17.