Italy

The paper assesses the degree of banking competition and efficiency in Italy?over time as well as compared to that in other countries, such as France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The paper finds competition in the Italian banking sector has intensified in loan and deposit markets in recent years, but banks still operate in a highcost, high-income system, particularly with respect to retail/services, and efficiency gains have yet to fully materialize. The degree of competition falls within the range of estimates for a set of comparator countries. Greater contestability should act as a powerful force to drive banks to become more competitive and efficient. Competition policy will also continue to be an important consideration, both in enforcing Italy''s antitrust laws and in ensuring that the procedures for dealing with weak banks and other merger and acquisition reviews focus on stability and competition objectives.Banking;Banking systems;competition, merger, banking sector, mergers, antitrust, degree of competition, banking system, bank mergers, banking services, bank supervisors, monopolistic competition, banking industry, competition authority, competition policy, net interest margin, deposit insurance, antitrust laws, interest expense, competition law, bank assets, firm concentration, concentration ratio, firm concentration ratio, monopoly, retail banking, banking market, bank merger, market concentration, bank deposits, banking markets, bank entry, bank interest, competition authorities, regulatory environment, bank interest margins, cartel, bank competition, return on equity, perfect competition, bank risk, bank consolidation, banking sectors, regulatory agency, income statement, bank acquisitions, bank privatization, national bank, bank supervision, merger policy, bank for international settlements, competitive structure, banks ? asset, bank groups, prudential regulation, investment banking, banking products, bank for international settlement, bank regulation, competition laws, competitive market, competition act, interbank market, banking costs, country comparison, bank research, bank spreads, bank risk taking, bank products, bank supervisor, nonperforming loan, bank charter, present value, bank ownership, bank of canada, bank data, merger review, bank licenses