Italy
Bank of Italy sees credit conditions improving
Economic bulletin notes the ability of banks to borrow cheap funds from the ECB is helping improve conditions, but stock of NPLs is still holding back lending growth
IMF paper identifies countries that ‘pass through’ spillovers
Individual countries can amplify, absorb or block spillovers, depending on their economic and structural characteristics, researchers at the IMF find
Rossi calls on supervisors to ‘build a real single house’
Senior deputy governor at the Bank of Italy stresses the importance of harmonising supervisory practices across the eurozone to ‘exploit the potential’ of the SSM
IMF researchers add eurozone detail to fund’s global projection model
Working paper adds ‘blocks’ for Germany, France, Italy and Spain to the model in an effort to capture the dynamics in the eurozone in greater detail
IMF research looks to jumpstart market for Italian NPLs
Nadège Jassaud and Kenneth Kang discuss their strategy for fostering a market for non-performing loans with Central Banking, stressing the need for ‘decisive action’
Italian paper: Reforms could lead to earlier exit from ZLB
Working paper examines the impact of competition-friendly reforms in the service sector across the eurozone, finding it could help boost inflation providing investment responds
Visco highlights ‘inadequate’ stock of human capital in Italy
Bank of Italy governor calls for better education and training to help develop the ‘right skills and capabilities’ necessary for the country to achieve higher growth
Visco calls for ‘block disposal’ of impaired assets
Bank of Italy governor laments growing stock of NPLs in country’s banking system; calls for ‘active management and recovery procedures’ to address it
Monte dei Paschi’s shares plummet in wake of ECB results
Shares in Italy’s third-largest bank drop by 20% as the market reacts to stress-test results; MPS claims it was ‘penalised’ by methodology
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