Bank capital and Basel 3 impacts on Italian banks

The issues raised by Basel III, with specific reference to the introduction of more stringent capital requirements, are numerous and touch upon different aspects, such as cost and profitability-related problems and the repercussions concerning strategies implemented by banks. Our aim is to clarify the impact on Italian banks. We will first present some general considerations addressing the main implications for bank management, before illustrating the results of a survey aimed at detecting possible fears and doubts, on the part of banks, with reference to the extent to which some of the capitalisation proposals included in the reform can actually be pursued.