In our publication of 16 December 2020, we gave an overview of Italian case law in 2020 on the nullity of Interest Rate Swap (IRS) contracts: the majority of the decisions published at.
Serious risks of invalidity, restitution effects and possible defences.
Italian Courts issued numerous rulings on derivatives in the last decade: but the year 2020 has been particularly dense of judgments and could mark a turning point. Indeed, in a judgment of May 2020, the Joint Divisions of the Italian Supreme Court set out some general principles on Interest Rate Swap agreements, declaring them null and void in the absence of certain requirements. Even before May and then in the following months of this year, numerous other merit judgements were issued: the majority shared the opinion of the Supreme Court but some expressed also a different view.