In Italy the use of bond covenants is restrained by the predominance of SMEs, the significant role of relationship banking, the high costs related to public placements, the lack of investors‘ financial culture, the low amount of loans normally requested by each firm and the lack of liquidity...

This paper aims to stress the importance of market liquidity for the stability of the financial system, emphasizing the pivotal role played by liquidity risk in the development of the current financial crisis, pointing out the flaws of regulation and supervision and stressing the need for their...

In times of extraordinary financial markets tensions, the Ecb can make use of unconventional monetary policy that are by definition exceptional and temporary in nature. These measures aim to preserve credit flows to the euro area economy and to introduce new liquidity management instruments

Monetary policy actions taken over the past three years were key in preventing a financial meltdown. Empirical evidence suggests that central bank bond purchase programmes were effective in lowering bond yields and supporting economic activity. Nevertheless policymakers also need to bear in mind...

The credibility of prudential metrics as proxies for risk, i.e. the backbone of the Basel capital framework, is often called into question. From a regulatory side, ongoing works aim at strengthening the risk-sensitivity of capital requirements but, at the same time, banks’ autonomy is often...

Supervisory fragmentation is a cause of systemic risk, as cooperation amongst national authorities is bound to fail in crisis events. The situation will be different under the Banking Union when the Single Supervisory Mechanism is in place even if it shows some weaknesses: the Ssm includes...

The major Italian banking groups have adopted over the past 5 years the figure of the Chief Risk Officer, with an Area that includes the functions of Risk Management and Compliance. The solutions adopted meet the requirements set out in the regulation for the prudential supervision of banks: the...

The Social Disclosure (Sd), in general, expressed through corporate social reporting can sometimes be reflected only in a series of fulfillment. In this perspective, the research aims to verify, with reference to Cooperative Credit Banks (Bcc) in Italy, if the intensity of Sd is actually...

Turbulence and global economy’s fragility are increasing the propagation of stresses and traumas in interconnected systems. The Too-big-Too-Fail concept, however, is now becoming less significant and a new idea – Too-Complex-To- Survive – is gaining popularity. Since excessive complexity...

The goal of this paper is to analyze the role that non-financial variables can play in assessing Smes creditworthiness and to compare their value in predicting business failure with the one of the most commonly used financial ratios. We investigate the importance for banks in modeling credit...