The position of the Bank of Italy is to proceed, if possible with greater determination, on the road taken twenty years ago — not only because the single market, the euro and their rules leave no option, and not only because the law in force in Italy today mandates this course, but in the belief that the progress that has already been made is in the right direction, even though competition on its own, it is worth repeating, does not guarantee an optimal financial system.
The Bank of Italy will devote more resources, a revised internal administrative structure focused on banking competition, and additional analyses serving to underpin new interventions to the task of fostering competition in the markets in which banks operate and the mergers they autonomously plan. Two changes that are already under way will also produce their effects.