The delays and widespread obstacles to court and out-of-court settlement of disputes are in fact a very important reason for the very high stock of NPLs in banks’ balance sheets: a reduction of two years in credit recovery times could even lead to halving the level of bad debts as a share of the total.
Feedback from market operators indicates that some effects are beginning to be seen. In the last weeks, a private alternative investment fund (Atlante, managed by an independent Italian asset management company) has been first set up and then formally launched, with a twofold purpose.