Pensa positivo

"Consider:

• Exposure of Italian banks to the subprime mortgage market was negligible, and
  
  
• Exposure of Italian banks to CDS contracts is equally small; the Bank of Italy claims Italian Banks represent only 1 percent of the G-10 nations’ overall derivative exposure.
  
  
• In 2002, former Central Bank Governor, Antonio Fazio, pushed Italy’s banks into a more conservativefunding posture, forcing them to issue longer dated debt maturities, and thereby avert the more widespread, speculative funding tendencies then popular among Europe’s big banks.

The result: a lower return on equity, but increased financial stability.

In short: the Italian financial system may be less “advanced” in a corporate sense, but its belated development appears to have saved it from the disaster that afflicted other western banking systems.  It currently looks poised to reap the benefits of an imminent market rebound".

Italy: A Sick Man, Yes – but So Well Dressed!