October 07, 2013

How does Italy break out of bank regulations which are slowly but surely shutting down its real economy?

Sir, I refer to Wolfgang Münchau’s “Italy’s chance to realign – or mess things up further” October 7. There Münchau states that, in Italy, “The most urgent task is to fix the banks. Without credit growth, there can be no sustainable recovery. The overindebted and undercapitalized banks have loaded up on Italian government bonds instead of lending to the private sector”.

Unfortunately, as that is a direct result of regulations which require banks to have about 8 percent in capital when lending to the private sector, but allow for zero capital when lending to the public sector, there is very little Italy and Enrico Letta can do about it. That is unless they distance themselves completely from the creators of this stupidity, the members of the Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board.

Of course the fact that Mario Draghi was one of scientists, who failed in the laboratory, does not make it easier for a country that also depends on the support of the ECB.