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...

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...

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

The development of a long lasting relationship between banks and firms requires greater cooperation between the two parties, which must be based on transparency, availability of the right quantitative and qualitative information, the correct and complete use of these information by banks, in...

To estimate the probability of default of companies and the correlated rating classes, it is necessary to use efficiently the information contained in different databases. In this respect, we propose a novel approach, based on the recursive usage of Bayes theorem, that can be very helpful in...

The crisis has strongly influenced the funding policies in Italian banks, pushing them to raise their stock of time deposits, an attractive product for retail customers in terms of low issuer risk and no market risk

Establishing a European Banking Union offers clear opportunities: to break bank-fiscal interactions, national supervisory silos and home biases, to reduce fragmentation and improve single market, to stabilize the euro. Nonetheless it involves also risks related to the crisis management...

The proposal for a Directive and the related impact study presented by Ec in 2012 have the purpose to reorganize the financial systems crisis regulation, with particular emphasis on bank recovery and resolution. The new harmonized rules identify three groups of measures relating to prevention,...

Networks development and technological innovation are the challenges that the interbank payment system will face to ensure efficiency and reliability to the operations involving businesses, citizens and public administrations. In Italy, as part of efforts to implement the Digital Agenda, is...