The official site of Italy's central bank

Market supervision

The Bank of Italy performs supervisory functions with respect to the financial markets to ensure the stability of the market systems, the transparency and quality of the services provided, and their reliability and efficiency.

The smooth functioning of the infrastructures of the financial markets influences both the effectiveness of the transmission of monetary policy impulses and financial stability. One of the principles established by the Italian legal system is the separation between the function of operating market infrastructures, entrusted to limited companies, and that of supervision, entrusted to the authorities.

Within this framework, the Bank has powers, shared to a varying degree with Consob, for the supervision of the markets that are important for monetary policy (the wholesale market for government securities and bonds, the market for derivatives based on public securities, interest rates and foreign currencies) and of the functions and services needed to complete transactions originated on all the markets: clearing, guarantee, settlement and CSD services (the post-trading infrastructures). On the other hand the Bank has exclusive power for the organized trading of interbank funds, which is also important for monetary policy.

The companies subject to the Bank’s supervision are:
– MTS spa: wholesale government securities markets (MTS and BondVision);
– e-MID spa: organized trading of interbank deposits;
– Monte Titoli spa: central securities depository and Express II settlement services;
– Cassa di compensazione e garanzia spa: central counterparty on the spot and derivative equity markets and on MTS, where it operates together with the French company LCH.Clearnet.

The objectives pursued in the Bank’s supervisory action are: smooth and orderly trading, the efficiency and reliability of market systems, and limiting systemic risk.