The role of local banks in Italy’s banking system

The Roundtable highlighted the important role played by the Italian banking system due to the nature of the economic system which is characterized by a large number of small and medium enterprises in the industrial and services sector. In Italy there are currently 37 local banks and 439 banks of cooperative credit for a total of 14,8% of the Italian banking system. Therefore the discussion focused on this important aspect with particular regards to the growth of enterprises in terms of size and innovation in order to be competitive on the international market and how this can be applied to small and medium banks. The debate analyzed the role that regional Italian banks will play on the European market where alongside big competitors there will be space for smaller institutes.