The "Albertini memo" deserves to be remembered, both for the underlying and rare knowledge of international markets and their stock exchanges, and for the lucid presentation of the problems then unresolved, and for the objectives set since 1983, despite the awareness that, with language that to me still sounds typical of action party militants: "These are objectives that will require a tenacious effort over many years" and, like the "history of the SEC (...) very tough battles fought with ups and downs by motivated men and courageous, defeated when they find the necessary political consensus” (p. 199).
Today I limit myself to extracting from the "summary" of the memorandum (pp.198-199) the "very hard battle" which, in my opinion, best marks the independence of judgment of Isidore Albertini from the usual vernacular on the independence and professionalism of top management. According to Albertini, Consob would not have achieved its objectives if “the men in charge of it are not (…) willing to face even violent confrontations. In choosing candidates, it is preferable to focus on legal and economic training in the broad sense rather than on specific professionalism, leaving room for experts and external consultancy".
The memorandum was sent to the chairman of the House Finance and Treasury Committee, the Hon. Giorgio Ruffolo on November 29, 1983 with the request to be heard during the fact-finding investigation into Consob operations. But it does not appear that Albertini was heard.
