The official site of Italy's central bank

Statute

The Statute contains the rules regarding the Bank’s structure, organization and administration; establishes the Bank’s nature as a “public-law institution”; refers to the European institutional context in which the Bank is inserted; lays down the principle that in performing their functions the Bank of Italy and the members of its decision-making bodies must act autonomously and independently in observance of the principle of transparency; and contains provisions concerning the transactions that the Bank may perform to carry out its functions by engaging in banking activities.

The Statute was considerable amended in the light of Law 262/2005; the new text was approved by a Decree of the President of the Republic dated 12 December 2006, which introduced major changes with regard to the governing bodies, their powers and the related procedures.

The main changes concerned: the establishment of the principle of the Bank’s independence (Article 1); the introduction of a term of office for all the members of the Directorate (Articles 24, 25 and 26); the amendment of the procedure for the appointment, reappointment and dismissal of the Governor (Article 17); the introduction of the principle of collegiality for the adoption by the Directorate (whose membership is increased from 4 to 5) of measures of external significance regarding the Bank’s functions (Articles 21, 22 and 23); the enlargement of the powers of the Board of Directors (Article 18); and the provision made for the Bank to report annually on its activity to the Government and Parliament (Article 41).