Italy
Visco echoes Draghi with call for more private investment
Bank of Italy’s governor argues the main challenge in the legacy of the great recession is ‘posed by the developments in the real economy’
Banks must ‘rediscover' relationships with companies, Italian deputy says
Salvatore Rossi says better understanding of companies by banks would complement capital market intermediation as ‘only banks can acquire direct knowledge of firms'
Finance and the Holy See: creating a central bank
The Vatican is setting up a ‘central bank’ as part of an overhaul of its finances. Isabella Bufacchi and Carlo Marroni examine the options available to the the Holy See.
Big eurozone economies dragged each other down during eurozone crisis
Sovereign CDS in Spain and Italy showed ‘notable co-dependence' in 2009–12 and also explained much of the widening in Germany's spreads, IMF paper says
Bank of Italy wary of emerging market risk
Italy’s central bank reports improving financial conditions in the eurozone, but remains wary of low inflation and emerging market slowdown
Pope to set up Vatican central bank
Vatican City set to establish its own central bank as Pope Francis looks to overhaul a financial system that has suffered accusations of corruption
Robert Pringle's Viewpoint: The eurozone’s unfinished business
Economic adjustment and financial sector reform must go hand in hand – with the ECB due to play a central role
Italian paper finds difficulties in risk weighting sovereign debt
Researchers at the Bank of Italy warn that applying higher risk weights to sovereign debt could be detrimental to banks’ funding conditions
Visco calls for ‘rapid’ SRM agreement
Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco urges the European Parliament and Council for the EU to find a common ground on the SRM; argues for single resolution fund to be fast-tracked
Prices transmit information from the informed to the uniformed, say researchers
Bank of Italy working paper examines how the price system affects companies’ demand for information on the macroeconomy; contributes to business cycle theory
Bank of Italy slims down organisational structure
The central bank will consolidate its various operations into eight directorates general on January 27, in a bid to ‘streamline’ its organisational structure and decision-making processes
Bank of Italy share capital revalued
Italian government revalues central bank’s share capital at €7.5 billion; ECB rebukes finance ministry for jumping the gun
Italian interbank market kept working through crisis
A study of interbank lending in Italy from 2007-2011 finds the hypothesis of liquidity hoarding in times of crisis did not apply in the instance examined
Bank of Italy copycat website closed
A replica of the Bank of Italy’s website has been shut down by the Italian authorities over fears it was seeking to illegally obtain internet users' personal data
ECB research examines ‘inverted V’ yields around bond auctions
Working paper finds yields spiked around auctions during crisis-hit Italian bond issues, creating additional costs for the government that Germany did not face
Italian deputy warns of political pressure on central banks
Salvatore Rossi says central banks’ increasing responsibility for financial stability makes them a ‘perfect target’ for both lobbyists and politicians
IMF warns Italian financial sector is ‘not out of danger'
Assessment finds Italian financial sector to have shown ‘remarkable' resilience, but slender profit margins and worsening loan quality have led to ‘pockets of vulnerability'
Opinion: The ECB should not hold back from eurozone bond purchases
There is no danger in the ECB buying large amounts of eurozone government bonds to bolster market confidence – so long as the right conditions are met – says Natixis chief economist Patrick Artus
ECB paper says monetary transmission ‘far stronger’ in some eurozone countries than others
Interest rate changes have greater impact on bank lending in Germany and Italy than in countries with fewer commercial banks such as Spain and France
Bank of Italy paper finds women directors improve bank governance
Researchers find that women on bank boards tend to reduce the riskiness of investments, which they say is potentially both an argument for greater gender balance and a factor behind discrimination
Italians back using gold reserves to lower funding costs
A survey commissioned by the World Gold Council finds that Italians would support the creation of gold-backed bonds; sovereign bond yields fall further as new government is formed
People: Bank of Italy's Saccomanni becomes Italian finance minister; Kuroda replaced at ADB
Director-general at Italian central bank gets top government role; Takehiko Nakao moves from Japanese finance ministry to head Asian Development Bank
Italian governor calls for greater understanding of Islamic finance
Ignazio Visco says ethical finance focuses on 'the link between financial transactions and underlying assets'
Italy’s Visco concerned by ‘blind backlash’ against financial firms
Bank of Italy governor issues reminder that finance does bring some benefits, but says pre-crisis ‘benign neglect’ by regulators was foolish