The reform of the Bank of Italy’s ownership structure, enacted by Parliament, involves technical complexities that have distracted public attention from the objectives that have been attained. The new arrangements maintain the model of shareholding centred on the financial industry, a feature shared with other major central banks. They reaffirm that shareholders have no power to influence the Bank in fulfilling its institutional functions.
The roadmap was drawn up last year when ECB Banking Supervision agreed with the four main Greek banks on a 50% reduction in their NPL stock by the end of 2019. Progress so far has been broadly in line with agreed targets, but NPL objectives for this year and the next two years are ambitious.