ACRI Association of Italian Savings Banks  2018 World Savings Day Address by the Governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco  Rome, 31 October 2018  The protection of savings calls, in the first place, for economic policies to ensure balanced financial conditions, stabilize cyclical fluctuations in the economy, and improve growth potential.
Supervising financial intermediaries contributes to the protection of savings; it acts to contain crises and their repercussions on the economy, although it cannot eliminate them entirely. In Italy the long and severe recession was exacerbated by some instances of malfeasance within the banking system which, though few in number, had serious consequences at local level.