Bankitalia is no longer of any use, let's close it, everything will be decided in Frankfurt anyway. It is to counter this and other clichés that the central bank, starting from Milan in collaboration with Corriere della Sera, is launching a cycle of financial education meetings open to citizens, especially to the younger ones, to disseminate tasks and explain its functions. The meetings will subsequently also be held in other cities: in Turin in collaboration with La Stampa, in Florence with La Nazione and in Naples in partnership with Il Mattino.
“In the last ten years – commented the governor of the Bank of Italy Ignazio Visco, during the presentation event in Milan – we have experienced a period of extraordinary changes, there has been an increasingly rapid dissemination of information, opinions, more or less true facts in real time, with the consequent difficulty in selecting the information. Furthermore, Italy has gone through the worst financial crisis in its history, worse than that of the 30s, but it has not been fully understood because we have almost become addicted to the problems and changes”.
The role of institutions, according to Visco, has been "increasingly difficult to understand and increasingly easy to criticise". A communicative difficulty that started from relations with politics, with the media up to an ever greater distance from the citizens. “Communicating in a simple way and being understood is the challenge we face with this initiative of meetings with the public. We decided to do them after having reached the peak of the communication difficulties following the bank crises”.
It is therefore not true that "Frankfurt decides everything" and that the role of Bank of Italy is now superfluous. Indeed, the Italian central bank, despite having relinquished sovereignty over monetary policy, still plays an active role together with the other central banks of the various member countries. “Monetary union – explained Visco – has led to the unification of monetary policy. But national central banks are still part of this system. It is true, sovereignty has been ceded, but now this sovereignty is shared".
So much so that every two weeks, for two days, the governor of the Bank of Italy goes to Frankfurt to discuss monetary policy with the ECB. And then there's vigilance, which “not limited to inspecting banks”, and full control over the payment system, over the hundreds of thousands of payments that are made every day not only in Italy but throughout the euro area: wire transfers, checks, credit card payments. "They seem to be automatic operations - says Visco - but behind it is the control of Bank of Italy".
Visco then also intervened on the events concerning politics and Europe: “We are not in Europe, we are Europe. It is necessary to bear in mind the constraints that exist on the balance of public finances, so not only don't take a step longer than your leg but when you do it, do it measured so as not to fall into the abyss. The uncertainty that awaits the measures that will then actually be implemented – added Visco – blocks investments. The latest data confirm a certain slowdown globally and we are very interdependent'.
Lastly, the Bank of Italy still carries out its full role of supervision and control of monetary and financial stability, as well as analysis and study centre. AND makes an annual account of everything, even if few know it: "Every year we publish the report on our management, giving an account of everything our 6.800 employees do in Rome and in the various branches throughout the territory". From now on, but in a less formal way, we will also talk about this with the citizens.
