In just a few days Italian banks will be able to deposit a broader range of bank loans meeting clearly defined eligibility criteria, with the Bank of Italy bearing the related risks. To reconcile the objective of increasing banks’ access to refinancing with the need to preserve the solidity of the central bank’s balance sheet, the new eligible collateral will be selected rigorously.
In particular, it will include bank loans with a very low probability of default, not exceeding 1 per cent. As a result of the above changes, once haircuts have been applied, Italian banks’ total eligible assets will increase by another € billion to a little under € billion.