Fabio Panetta
«The risks related to cryptoactivity do not derive only from regulatory differences. It cannot be excluded that one or more cryptoactivity, including those with characteristics of electronic coinare issued by technological giants And they start spreading in Europe. If these private payment means spread widely, the consequences could be relevant. Commercial banks would risk losing an important part of their functions ». As The governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panettaduring his speech at the congress of theAssiom Forex.
«Together with the Consobwe started contacts with operators interested in offering services on crypticactivity “he added, explaining that” if these private means of payment, easily integrated into commercial platforms with billions of users, should spread widely, the consequences could be relevant “. In the public debate it is sometimes claimed that the introduction of the digital euro would entail »risk for commercial banks “I ignoring that the real threat comes from cryptoactivity, for which – unlike the digital euro – there are no limits to detention by savers”.
The central banks, responsible for the proper functioning of the payment system, would find themselves in a context in which few private subjects, perhaps foreign, would have such a relevant role as to compromise the stability of the system in the event of accidents. The risks – concludes Panetta – for the system of payments and financial markets would therefore be considerable ».
Panetta: we cannot comment on mergers like a talk show
“The Bank of Italy has not forgotten” of bank mergers, added Panetta, but “cannot comment as if it were a talk show”. “So Supervision does not work like this, with statements as it could be done in a talk show, so it doesn’t work supervision, the bank of Italy does not work like this. We will talk about these operations through the analyzes and decisions that will be made in due course, “he said. The passage of the Governor, who thus abandoned the written text to which he had followed until then, addressed the many criticisms rained on the Bank of Italy in recent weeks by representatives of the economic world and politics.
For Panetta “it is naive, it is difficult to hypothesize that the Bank of Italy can comment on these operations as if it were at a talk show, with observations, extemporaneous assessments”. These are operations that “involve several Italian and European authorities”, “thousands of employees and millions of savers” and for this reason they are “operations that require careful, complex analysis of operations, documents, effects, however for Some of these operations not all the documents necessary for the evaluation of the dossier are available ».