The impact of the crisis on the banks has been less traumatic in Italy than in other countries, thanks above all to a limited exposure to structured finance products and lesser reliance on wholesale funding. At the end of 2008 structured credit instruments represented just under 2 per cent of the assets of the main banking groups.
Wholesale funding made up 29 per cent of total funding for our system, against an average of 41 per cent in the euro area. A fundamentally sound model of intermediation, together with a particularly prudent regulatory framework and supervisory approach, has shielded Italian banks from the most devastating effects of the market turbulence.