The participants of this roundtable discussion emphasized that any consideration of relations between banks and businesses should steer clear of simple dichotomies that view them as two opposing types of commercial entities. The behavior of banks and businesses should be assessed on a case-by-case basis in order to avoid simplistic generalizations.
Fortunately, it was observed, the credit crunch has not yet become a systemic problem in Italy. This does not, however, change the fact that the crisis is posing problems, particularly for small to medium-sized enterprises. For these businesses, accessing credit has become particularly difficult, including as a result of the rigid procedures with which banks examine their credit applications. Considerable problems arise even with respect to the most basic debt consolidation and credit insurance transactions.
The consensus was that these problems can only be addressed through a cooperative strategy capable of restoring total trust to relations between banks and businesses.
On the one hand, businesses cannot merely continue to ask for further credit from banks without being self-critical of a number of misguided choices they have made and without a serious commitment towards adopting measures to recapitalize and strengthen their capital base. Nor can the very high losses sustained by banks on loans they have granted and the rising cost of credit (as a result of escalating debt recovery costs) be ignored.
For their part, banks need to focus on repersonalizing their relationships with businesses. It is necessary for them to understand the true value of businesses, beyond the balance-sheet and financial figures of the last six-month period. It is also important not to repeat the error of recent years, when debt became an asset or commodity that was bought and resold on the market. From this stems the need for there to be a direct relationship between banks and the businesses they finance. The rationale for banks being firmly anchored within their local community is that only those well-acquainted with businesses are able to provide credit to risky yet serious undertakings, and thereby contribute to the growth, investment and innovative capacity of the entire national economy. It is precisely these kinds of business ventures, the participants concluded, that banks should aim to support.