Banca d'Italia

Infobox Central bank
image_1=Monti - via Nazionale Palazzo Koch 1000117.jpg
image_title_1 = Palace Koch Headquarter of the Bank of Italy, Via Nazionale Rome
headquarters = Rome
established = 1893
president = Mario Draghi
leader_title = Governor
bank_of = Italy
currency =
currency_iso =
reserves =
website = [http://www.bancaditalia.it/ bancaditalia.it]
preceded =Bankitalia
succeeded = European Central Bank (1999)¹
footnotes = ¹ The Bank of Italy (Banca d'Italia) still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.

Banca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, Roma, via Nazionale. The bank's current governor is Mario Draghi, who took the office on January 16, 2006.

Functions

After the charge of monetary and exchange rate policies was shifted in 1998 to the European Central Bank, within the European institutional framework, the bank implements the decisions, issues euro banknotes and withdraws and destroys worn pieces.

The main function has thus become banking and financial supervision. The objective is to ensure the stability and efficiency of the system and compliance to rules and regulations; the bank pursues it through secondary legislation, controls and cooperation with governmental authorities.

Following reform in 2005, which was prompted by takeover scandals, the bank has lost exclusive antitrust authority in the credit sector, which is now shared with Italy's Antitrust Authority.

Other functions include, market supervision, oversight of the payment system and provision of settlement services, State treasury service, Central Credit Register, economic analysis and institutional consultancy.

Bank of Italy gold reserves are 2,451.8 tonnes (2006).

History

The institution, also called Bankitalia, was founded in 1893, from the fusion of the four major banks in Italy. Until 1928 it was directed by a "General Manager", while since then it is directed by a "Governor". The Governor was elected from the internal commission of managers, with a decree from the President of the Italian Republic. Its mandate during 7 years.

General Managers (1893 - 1928)

*Giacomo Grillo (1893 - 1894)
*Giuseppe Marchiori (1894 - 1900)
*Bonaldo Stringher (1900 - 1928)

Governors (1928 - present)

*Bonaldo Stringher (1928 - 1930)
*Vincenzo Azzolini (1931 - 1944)
*Luigi Einaudi (1945 - 1948)
*Donato Menichella (1948 - 1960)
*Guido Carli (1960 - 1975)
*Paolo Baffi (1975 - 1979)
*Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1979 - 1993)
*Antonio Fazio (1993 - 2005)
*Mario Draghi (2006 - present)

Organization of the Bank of Italy

Governing Bodies

The Bank's governing bodies are the General Meeting of Shareholders, the Board of Directors, the Governor, the Director General and three Deputy Directors General; the last five constitute the Directorate.

The general meeting takes place yearly and has the purpose of approving accounts and appointing the auditors. The Board of Directors has administrative powers and is chaired by the governor (or by the Director General in his absence). Following reform in 2005, the governor has lost exclusive responsibility regarding decisions with external relevance (i.e. banking and financial supervision), which has been transferred to the Directorate (on majority vote). The Director General is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the bank, and acts as governor when absent.

The Board of Auditors assesses the bank's administration and compliance with the law, regulations and the statute.

Appointment

The Directorate's term of office lasts six years and is renewable once. The appointment of the governor is in charge of the government, heard the Board of Directors, with the approval of the President of the Republic (formally a decree of the President). The Board of Directors is elected by the shareholders according to the bank statute.

ee also

*Economy of Italy
*Euro
*Italian lira

External links

*it icon en icon [http://www.bancaditalia.it/ Official site of Banca d'Italia]
* [http://www.bancaditalia.it/la_banca/storia/history.pdf History of the Banca d'Italia]