Cutting costs and changing business model are the strategic targets of Italian banks. How they can be achieved remains the responsibility of banks' boards and managers. What we do know is that banks' stability and competitiveness depend on reaching those goals. Mergers and acquisitions, especially among small and medium-sized banks, may be of help.
There will be vaccines; there will be probable gradual and sequential lifting of lockdowns, because not all countries are all affected at the same time. Close coordination will be needed to do this, because a second and a third wave must, of course, be prevented. But don’t imagine that the current state of affairs is going to be permanent.