Reichlin, Lucrezia, Vallée, Shahin, (2016), “Resolving Europe’s Banking Crisis in Italy”, Project Syndicate, 14 October
The European banking sector is crippled and highly fragmented. Though its problems are more acute for some countries and financial institutions, the sector runs on a level of profitability that is, on average, lower than its cost of equity and maintains a stock of non-performing loans and hard-to-value assets large enough to undermine its capitalization for years to come. Italy is a case in point. Not only is its dysfunctional banking sector undermining economic recovery and inhibiting investment; the sector’s troubles are the sharp end of a problem that affects the entire eurozone.
Relevant Posts
- Micossi, Stefano, (2016), “Banking crisis yet again and how to fix it”, Ceps Commentary, 15 February
- Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, (2016), “What Deutsche Bank’s Troubles Tell Us about the Health of Europe’s Banking System”, Peterson Institute for International Economics, 30 September