After the launch of the single European currency banks of the main euro-area countries have increasingly issued bonds on the Euromarket. In this paper, I investigate the determinants of Italian banks' recourse to international capital markets. I find that, other things being equal, domestic...

During the course of the last few years, major international banks have increasingly resorted to using non-traditional capital instruments to expand their own regulatory capital and thus increase the volume of total assets and/or level of risk. This paper begins by comparing the features of the...

From the 1980s onwards the banking sectors in all the industrialised countries have been experiencing intense restructuring, aggregation and consolidation, radically changing their ownership structures and geography. Whatever the reasons behind such restructuring processes, the globalisation of...

This paper examines the developments of the Italian banking system during the Nineties from two related points of view: net external position and degree of internationalisation, i.e. branches and subsidiaries abroad. These themes seem particularly interesting in the light of the widespread...

Aim of the paper is assessing, from 2001 to 2005, the impact of some changes affecting the Italian payment system on reserves demand and revenues of those banks directly participating in the new BI-REL, the Italian RTGS system. The results of the analysis carried out on 105 banks directly...

The paper examines the relationship between banking and securities activities in the light of financial market developments (securitisation, institutionalization of investment, emergence of complex financial instruments, conglomeration and consolidation), with particular reference to Europe. The...

In the 1990s the banks established in the Italian South have reduced their cost-income ratios and improved their ability to screen customers, increasing profitability. The spread between the loan rates in the South and North has narrowed substantially. Taking into account differences in the size...