The capital of the Bank of Italy is set at €7,500,000,000 in registered shares with a unitary nominal value, established by law, of €25,000.

Shares may be held by banks and insurance and re-insurance firms, legally registered and with head office in Italy; foundations according to the provisions of Article 27 of Legislative Decree 153/1999; social security institutions and insurance companies and institutions with head office in Italy; and pension funds established according to Article 4(1) of Legislative Decree 252/2005.

Law 5/2014 set new rules for the Bank of Italy's capital with the purpose, among other things, of increasing the number of shareholders by establishing a 3 per cent ceiling on the share of capital a single shareholder may hold. The 2002 Budget Law (Law 234/2021), approved last December, has, among other things, rewritten Article 4 of Law 5/2014, raising the limit on the Bank of Italy's ownership of share capital from 3 to 5 per cent, in force from 1 January 2022. There is no right to vote or any other economic or capital right for any excess shares held; the relative dividends are allocated to the Bank’s statutory reserves.

Shareholders' meetings are ordinary or extraordinary. Extraordinary shareholders' meetings decide on amendments to the statute; ordinary shareholders' meetings decide on all other matters specified by the statute.

The annual ordinary general meeting of shareholders is held not later than 31 March, to approve the annual accounts, the allocation of the net profit and, where necessary, the election of the members and chair of the Board of Auditors. Moreover, no later than 31 May every year the Bank of Italy publishes its annual report on economic and financial developments that forms the basis for the Governor’s Concluding Remarks, which are delivered during a public meeting not limited to the shareholders.

Article 38 of the statute deals with the distribution of profits. The Board of Directors, acting on a proposal from the Governing Board and after consulting the Board of Auditors, draws up the plan for the distribution of the net profit and decides on its presentation to the Shareholders' Meeting for approval. The net profit is distributed as follows:

  • to ordinary reserves, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of net profit,
  • to shareholders that owned their shares at the end of the fortieth day before the first notice convening the shareholders’ meeting, up to a maximum of 6 per cent of capital,
  • to special reserves and provisions, up to a maximum of 20 per cent of net profit, and
  • to the State, the remaining sum.

Dematerialization of shareholdings in the Bank of Italy's capital

The Bank of Italy’s Board of Directors began the process of dematerializing shareholdings in the Bank of Italy’s capital by passing a resolution to transfer them in dematerialized form to the central securities depository Monte Titoli SpA effective 18 January 2016 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, Part II, No. 19 of 15 October 2015). The paper certificates representing the shares ceased to be valid on the date the dematerialization came into effect.

On 18 January 2016, securities accounts were opened with the Bank of Italy for each shareholder as they appeared in the shareholders’ register on 2 January 2016.

The custody of the dematerialized shares and all activities relating to their transfer are governed by a securities custody contract. There will be dedicated guidelines for all activities connected with the transfer of the shares and related communications with the Bank of Italy.

The formalities for the dematerialization of the shares are set out in a Notice to Shareholders.

Shareholders