Direct funding to the private sector, in the form  4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  of shares, bonds and loans, is still relatively small: these instruments account for just 16 per cent of the financial assets of insurance companies and pension funds in Italy, compared with 23 per cent in the euro area as a whole.
Nevertheless, even a more favourable regulatory environment may not be enough to induce investors to diversify their assets, although the decline in the returns on traditional instruments has encouraged the search for higher yields. Investment in securities issued by firms, typically riskier and relatively illiquid, calls for specific professional skills.