A correctness rating of the banks but above all the protection of consumers entrusted to the Antitrust. This was requested by the president of the Authority, Giovanni Pitruzzella, after hearing from the Senate Industry Commission which is examining the decree that reintroduces bank commissions for the granting of loans and lines.
Consumer protection is an issue that is particularly close to Pitruzzella's heart, "a crucial point that deserves to be taken into the utmost consideration". And for Pitruzzella "the fact that the consumer can count on a body of clear and unambiguous rules, the enforcement of which is entrusted to a well-defined subject, is of particular importance". The president of the Antitrust underlines the risk of a "serious vulnerability" for consumers for whom "there is the concrete possibility of remaining without protection in areas such as the communication, energy and credit sectors". And therefore "it appears necessary to reaffirm the centrality of the consumer code in the legal order as a bulwark to protect the interests of consumers and its application by the sole authority that guarantees competition and the market, identified by the legislator for this purpose".
As for the provision being examined by the commission, which together with the reintroduction of commissions also provides for the establishment of an observatory on the disbursement of credit, the Antitrust judges it "an effective point of balance between the need to make the conditions that govern the relations of companies with banks". But it also suggests the introduction of a specific "sanctioning power" for the Bank of Italy for cases in which banks fail or delay in providing the information and reasons requested, and the drafting and dissemination of a sort of "rating correctness” of the banks in the disbursement of credit. It would be a tool - explains Pitruzzella - which, by exposing the banks to public judgment, produces positive effects both in terms of greater information transparency for the market and for the subjects who operate in it, and in terms of greater competitive pressure for the banks.
