ECB has provided stability to financial system

MILAN, March 30, 2023 - "The European (Union) economy has shown great resilience, and this is also thanks to the actions put in place during the post-pandemic period, the infrastructure investments, and plans like the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan). The export sectors in some European countries have also grown beyond the somewhat gloomy expectations of last year."

This is what Webuild General Manager Massimo Ferrari said on Menabò, a daily programme on Rai Radio Uno, a radio station of the Italian state broadcaster. "In Europe, we can rest assured that the actions taken by the European Central Bank in these last few years have been very focused on providing stability to the system. Big improvements were also made by the banks".

Ferrari also pointed out that “in addition to the reassuring messages – and it also appears to me that (European Union) Commissioner Gentiloni also gave some today – the central banks still need to tighten things up a little in some areas, like the ones concerning the coordination of supervisory activities". 

In the United States, for example, Ferrari added, "the fact that some local supervisory bodies that oversee smaller banks underestimated some issues should make us stop and think". On first impression, he said, "it appears that, in the U.S., there is a regulatory framework that is lacking when compared with the EU. The fact that regional banks are not considered as systemically important to the banking system – those with assets of less than €250 billion – must not exclude them from careful, prudent supervision. We have now learned about the non-alignment between deposits and assets at SVB (Silicon Valley Bank), and especially about the structure of its assets and the strong volatility of its deposits, which require an intervention, even at a federal level".