At European level, the political will and the instruments exist for intervention to prevent regional crises if necessary. 4  BIS Review 38/2009  From the end of September up to yesterday the share prices of the major Italian banks fell on average by more than 50 per cent, in line with the fall recorded by the leading European banks.
The share prices of international banks did not benefit from the recapitalization measures adopted abroad. In the same period major Italian banks’ credit default swap premiums, which started from low levels by international standards, rose by about 70 basis points to about 180 basis points, a figure that is analogous to that obtaining yesterday for the corresponding European index.