The major vulnerabilities of the Italian banking system are the overhang of NPLs and low profitability. Differently from the attention given to excesses of NPLs, the profitability problem is normally considered to be a matter to be left to bank management and not an area of explicit direct...

The recent crisis has promoted a rethinking of financial globalisation, a revision that has also partially interested some official circles. National supervisors have often reacted to the crises of cross-border banks by ring fencing local interests. Some proposals (e.g. the Vickers Report and...

Since the late 1980s financial systems have gradually gone through profound changes in their regulatory framework. The most notable trait of this evolution is convergence towards some basic principles laid down by the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision. While some countries opted not to...

Starting from the mid-nineteenth century, this paper analyzes two periods of financial instability connected with financial globalization. The first culminates with the 1929 crisis, while the second characterizes the more recent experience starting from the 1970s. The period in between is...