The market prices of exposures should be assessed bearing in mind that they reflect the very high yields demanded by oligopolistic buyers, which also factor in the possibility of long recovery times; in some cases the existence of a large proportion of long-standing bad debts, already amply written down, explain the particularly low selling prices.
The large volume of Italian NPLs has drawn the close attention not only of the supervisory authorities but also of international markets and observers. It requires careful management. The majority of bad loans are held by banks in a sound financial position that therefore do not need to sell them immediately.