Italy
Sales remain within Gold Agreement Limit
Gold sales by the 16 signatories to the Central Bank Gold Agreement between 27 September 2006 and 26 September 2007 amounted to 475.75 tonnes, 24.25 tonnes shy of the 500 limit, the Bank for International Settlements said on Wednesday.
Padoa-Schioppa to chair IMFS
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italy's economy and finance minister, is to head the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC).
Target2: ready to go
Five years in the making, Europe's new large-value payments system, known as Target2, is ready to go live on 19 November.
No job losses under Bank of Italy branch closure
The Bank of Italy has reassured its employees that it will be making no redundancies, despite closing more than a third of its branches.
Regulators to cooperate on rules to combat crisis
Financial regulators from the world's leading economies are set to draft recommendations to avert global instability in response to the recent market turmoil.
Germany is the ECB's biggest fan
Out of the five major Eurozone economies, it is Germany, the largest, that is most confident that the European Central Bank (ECB) fulfils its primary roles of managing inflation and encouraging growth.
Bank of Italy closes more than a third of branches
The Bank of Italy said on Wednesday that it will close 33 of its 97 branches as part of the reorganisation of its network.
Italian bank takeovers a success - Saccomanni
The acquisition of southern Italy's leading banks by banks in the centre and north of the country have had important positive effects, contributing to improve principles and techniques of credit management, Fabrizio Saccomanni, a director general of the…
Italian government eyes reserves for debt payment
The Italian government is proposing to use part of the central bank's gold and currency reserves to pay down national debt, which is currently at 107% of the country's gross national product. The country's parliament has approved a resolution calls for…
Italy: annual report 2006
The Italian economy grew at around 1.8% (deflators) in 2006, supported by strong world demand and a cyclical upturn in the euro area.
Bank of Italy orders Italease managers to resign
Two senior managers of Banca Italease SpA, a Milan-based leasing company, have been ordered by the Bank of Italy to resign. The central bank said that the company needs to raise capital after it had to spend € 610m ($843m) on unwinding derivatives bets…
Draghi testifies to parliament
Stronger economic growth has meant a smaller fiscal deficit, noted the governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, but Italy's structural deficit remains substantial.
Draghi sees more efficiencies from bank mergers
Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, says the market expects further savings as banks in Italy consolidate. Speaking at the meeting of the Italian Banking Association in Rome on 11 July, Draghi said savings would come from unifying IT systems…
New French candidate for IMF emerges
A former finance minister of France, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has emerged as one of the early favourites to become the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The current managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, announced last month that he would…
Italy's Draghi on financial innovations
In a speech on 4 June Mario Draghi, governor of the Banca D'Italia, reviewed some of the most important financial innovations seen in recent years, and the consequences they have had for financial markets and institutions.
Interview with Malta's Bonello
In a recent interview, the governor of Malta's central bank, Michael Bonello, sought to assuage fears that the changeover to the euro in 2008 would lead to price rises.
Draghi keen on governance reforms for banks
The governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi, told the central bank's shareholder at the conclusion of its annual meeting that he backs Italian lawmakers' current effort to reform the governance arrangement for the country's cooperative commercial…
Bank of Italy - annual report
The Bank of Italy released its 2006 annual report on 31 May. On the occasion of the release, Mario Draghi, the governor of the central bank, commented on the Italian economy, saying that although its rate of growth is still one of the lowest in the euro…
The importance of monetary aggregates
This ECB working paper presents a strong argument in favour of using monetary aggregates as an analytical tool for predicting future inflation.
Eurozone business confidence dips
Analysts are suggesting that business confidence in the euro area may have peaked. The May figure for the widely-watched Ifo index was unchanged from a month earlier for Germany, but somewhat lower for France and Italy.
Germany defends ECB focus on money growth
Germany's Bundesbank has come out in stout defence of the European Central Bank, arguing that money supply figures - used by the ECB in making interest rate decisions - are helpful in identifying property market distortions.
Italy's Draghi on employment and development
In the speech 'Employment and development - the legacy of Giorgio Gagliani' given on 26 March Mario Draghi of the Bank of Italy said the repercussions of population ageing have already begun to be felt in the Italian labour market.
US's Paulson sees progress on trade imbalances
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a statement the Group of Seven (G7) nations have made progress but "more needs to be done" on trade imbalances.
Italy's Draghi: Governor Baffi's financial policy
In the speech 'Reflections on monetary and financial policy - Governor Baffi's monetary policy' given on 15 March Mario Draghi of the Bank of Italy said Paolo Baffi was governor of the Bank of Italy during five of the most difficult years Italy has known.