The paper analyses the relevance of firms' operational risks and related insurance coverage in the lending process of Italian banks. The analysis uses the results of a monographic section of the Regional Bank Lending Survey (RBLS) conducted by the Bank of Italy in early 2023. The main results show that, although a high percentage of banks consider 'traditional' operational risks (such as fire, theft and insolvency of a company debtor) as relevant, the attention paid to 'emerging' risks (climate and especially cyber) is less widespread.
Even among banks that consider operational risks relevant, many intermediaries do not take into account, both for granting credit and for pricing, the presence of any insurance coverage, especially for 'emerging' risks. The main reason given by the banks surveyed is the difficult integration of information on the presence of an insurance into credit risk assessment models. These results suggest that the adaptation of risk models and the availability of policies suitable to be incorporated into these models could allow operators to better exploit the potential benefits of insurance coverage both for reducing credit risk for banks and for lowering firms' financing costs.
