However, the increase weighs on the cost of long-term fund raising, at a time when large volumes of bonds are nearing maturity. It is important that the maturity structure of banks liabilities not be unduly tilted towards the short term, increasing the vulnerability of their liquidity position, which up to now has remained balanced in even the most severe phases of the crisis.
As of June, the resources of the five leading Italian banking groups best able to absorb losses (core tier 1 capital) had reached on average 7.7 per cent of their risk-weighted assets, 1.2 points more than in June 2009 and 2 points more than at the end of 2007.