Editoriale. I problemi delle banche vanno molto oltre le mele marce

The short article introduces to the current issue of the journal. Over the past two years, the health of Italy’s banks has become the main economic policy issue in the country. Most policymakers and commentators still assume that, were it not for a few ‘rotten apples’, the system is relatively stable and solid. They thus propose to tackle the legacy non-performing loans (NPL) problem in a gradual and focussed way. In contrast, the comprehensive and in-depth empirical analysis by Montanaro and Tonveronachi (2017) published in this issue highlights that the Italian banks’ problems are structural and diffused. The authors therefore argue for a rapid solution of the NPL issue, but also point out that NPLs are far from being the main issue. Rather, a large number of Italian banks exhibit too low profitability to sustain internal growth once the cost of risks and of capital are met. In a forthcoming issue the journal will host a wide debate on the main findings of this work, as well as on the policy implications.