These borrowers, who tend to be small businesses even more commonly than households, may fall prey to usurers, through no fault of the legitimate intermediaries subject to supervision. Italy’s 1996 anti-usury law accords official recognition to the role played by the voluntary sector in sparing enterprises and households the risk of having to turn to usurers.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  private equity firms in Germany rose by almost 60% year-on-year to stand at € billion. Capital invested by German private equity companies thus totalled just under € billion last year. At roughly 0.1% of German GDP in 2009, investments are, however, still relatively insignificant.