TAILIEUCHUNG - The Privatization of Italian Savings Banks – A Role Model for Germany?*

In addition to the line of business the rating also influences the funding profile: banks with a better rating have easier access to capital market funding at acceptable risk premia than banks with worse ratings. The current market situation in particular is resulting in issuance patterns that differ widely from one bank to another: most of the banks with better ratings still have access to unsecured funding, whereas banks with poorer ratings have been shut out of the market for unsecured bonds for quite some time already. Investors’ perception of whether a bank is financially strong or weak is also. | Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung 74 2005 4 S. 32-50 The Privatization of Italian Savings Banks -A Role Model for Germany By Elena Carletti Hendrik Hakenes and Isabel Schnabel Summary The privatization of the Italian savings banks is often described as a success story. Proponents of privatization argue that a similar reform could cure the current problems in the German banking sector. In this paper we ask whether the Italian experience can really serve as a role model for Germany. Our analysis confirms that the Italian reforms of the 1990s were a success. Banks profitability increased without impairing competition or the availability of banking services and loans. However this success has to be attributed to a broad set of reforms which went far beyond the privatization of savings banks. Moreover Italy had a different starting point before the reforms and the structure of the public banking sector differed markedly from Germany s. Therefore one may question the transferability of the Italian experience to Germany. The costs and benefits of privatization should be weighed carefully against each other before abandoning the three-pillar system. Zusammenfassung Die Privatisierung italienischer Sparkassen wird haufig als Erfolgsgeschichte bezeichnet. Befurworter einer Privatisierung argumentieren dass die gegenwartigen Probleme im deutschen Bankensystem auf ahnlichem Wege behoben werden konnten. In diesem Aufsatz stellen wir die Frage ob das italienische Beispiel wirklich als Vorbild fur Deutschland dienen kann. Unsere Analyse bestatigt dass die italienischen Reformen der 90er Jahre ein Erfolg waren. Die Banken wur-den profitabler ohne dass der Wettbewerb oder die Verfugbarkeit von Bankleistungen oder Krediten eingeschrankt wurden. Dieser Erfolg ist jedoch das Ergebnis eines breiten Reformprozesses der weit uber die Privatisierung der Sparkassen hinausging. AuBerdem war der Ausgangspunkt vor den Refor-men ein anderer als in Deutschland und der offentliche .

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