Report on Operations and Activities – Key figures for 2023

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Unless otherwise specified, the data refer to the period from 1 January to 31 December 2023

Contents

    The big picture

    In 2023, Banca d’Italia allocated €615 million in net profits to the State. The gross profit for 2023 before tax and before the release of the general risk provision was €-7.1 billion. Taking into account the positive contribution from tax loss carryforwards and the release of the general risk provision, the Annual Accounts for 2023 closed with a net profit of €815 million.

    In 2023, the Bank’s operating costs, based on cost accounting criteria, amounted to €1,797 million.

    Work began on implementing the 2023-25 Strategic Plan, published in January 2023 and divided into five objectives (a stable and secure financial system; commitment to economic and financial innovation in Italy and in Europe; protection of customers of banking and financial services and dialogue with the outside world; the Bank’s commitment to the environment; and an inclusive, efficient and innovative Bank) to be pursued through specific action plans involving all areas of Banca d'Italia. At the end of 2023, the Bank had 6,968 employees. Most of the new hires were economists and IT specialists with a view to strengthening institutional activities and overseeing important projects at the Eurosystem level.

    Indicators

    • Net profit
      €815
      million
    • Profits allocated to the State
      €615
      million
    • Dividends paid to shareholders
      €340
      million
    • Staff
      6,968
      employees
      37.5%
      female
      62.5%
      male
    • Staff turnover
      240
      new hires
      112
      retirements/resignations
    • Remote working
      37%
      average share of days worked remotely
    • Bank offices in Italy and abroad
      38
      branches in Italy
      3
      delegations abroad, in London, New York and Tokyo
      1
      office at the House of the Euro in Brussels
    • Staff seconded to foreign institutions and organizations
      15
      financial attachés
      110
      employees at the ECB and the SSM
      49
      employees at other supranational organizations
    • Progress of the 2023-25 Strategic Plan
      22%
      of planned activities carried out
      40%
      of intermediate results achieved

    Money

    Banca d’Italia contributed to the preparation and implementation of the monetary policy decisions adopted by the European Central Bank's Governing Council. In 2023, the Governing Council confirmed its tight monetary policy stance by raising the key ECB interest rates and by further reducing the reinvestment of maturing securities under the asset purchase programme (APP) from 1 March until its discontinuation on 1 July. By contrast, the reinvestment of maturing securities under the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) will continue until the end of 2024. Overall, the Bank purchased a total of €40.2 billion in securities. The liquidity provided to credit institutions through refinancing operations – which are backed by financial assets assessed as eligible by the Bank – declined as a result of both the early repayments of third-series targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) and their maturity.

    The Bank ensured the production of banknotes and met the public’s demand for cash across the country, by managing banknote sorting and the continuity of distribution at national level and in the Eurosystem countries.

    The Bank continued in its commitment to managing payment services. The new T2 system, which replaced TARGET2 as of 20 March 2023, consists of two integrated services: Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) for the real-time gross settlement of payments, and Central Liquidity Management (CLM) for central bank settlements and centralized liquidity management.

    The operations of the three innovation enablers managed by the Bank – the Fintech channel, Milano Hub and the Regulatory sandbox – were further strengthened to support the digital development of financial services, and joint research with universities on the smart contracts used in banking, financial and insurance services has been launched.

    In addition, the Bank stepped up its cooperation with technology and network service providers and strengthened its international commitments to digital financial and payment services, with further action to increase the resilience of financial services and infrastructure to operational risks, including cyber threats.

    Indicators

    Monetary policy

    • Purchases made by Banca d’Italia under the APP and PEPP programmes
      €40.2
      billion
      €657
      billion (total portfolio at year-end)
    • Monetary policy refinancing
      €150
      billion
      64
      transactions
    • Collateral for refinancing operations and intraday credit
      €267
      billion worth of total collateral
      €146
      billion worth of bank loans as collateral
    • In-house Credit Assessment System (ICAS) for Italian non-financial corporations
      370,000
      assessments based on the statistical model
      4,100
      assessments based on a subsequent qualitative and quantitative review
    • Contributions to the decisions of Eurosystem Committees
      447
      written procedures

    Banknotes

    • Euro banknotes printed
      925
      million banknotes
    • Euro banknotes put into circulation
      2.19
      billion banknotes
    • Counterfeit euro banknotes
      104,669
      banknotes sent to law enforcement agencies
    • Contributions to the decisions of Eurosystem Committees
      221
      written procedures

    Payment systems

    • Payments settled in TARGET2
      404,000
      per day
      €1,940
      billion
      13.5%
      of euro-area GDP
    • Transactions in TARGET2-Securities
      697,000
      per day
      €787
      billion
    • TIPS payments
      1.1
      million per day
      €679
      million
      7,985
      financial intermediaries connected in Europe
    • Contributions to the decisions of Eurosystem Committees
      280
      written procedures

    Markets, payment system and payment instruments oversight

    • Hits on the Banca d’Italia website:
      14,898
      FinTech channel
      19,284
      Milano Hub
      19,701
      Regulatory sandbox
    • Meetings with corporate representatives
      561
    • Contributions to the decisions of Eurosystem Committees
      561
      written procedures
    • CERTFin
      2,593
      reports
    • Participation in other supranational organizations
      461
      procedures and speaking notes

    The financial system

    Banca d’Italia’s supervisory actions on banks and financial intermediaries consist of analyses, discussions, measures and intervention letters. The sanctions that were imposed related to deficiencies in the areas of prudential rules, anti-money laundering and breaches of transparency rules. New authorized intermediaries also include providers of crowdfunding services.

    In the area of anti-money laundering supervision, the Bank organizes meetings with corporate representatives and sends intervention letters and requests for clarification. It also organizes and takes part in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) colleges as lead supervisor and host supervisor.

    In order to protect and inform savers and customers of banks and financial companies, Banca d’Italia monitors financial intermediaries for fairness and transparency, offering communication channels, dispute resolution mechanisms and financial education and information services. In 2023, 120 intermediaries were checked for consumer compliance; as a result of these inspections, €32.5 million were refunded to customers. There was still significant use of some consumer protection channels (e.g. submitting a complaint or appealing to the Banking and Financial Ombudsman - ABF).

    As regards crisis management, the number of compulsory administrative liquidation procedures remained broadly the same. The drafting of resolution plans for significant banks, less significant banks and investment firms continued, including activities to promote their resolvability.

    Indicators

    Supervision of banking and financial intermediaries

    • Contributions to the decisions of the Basel Committee, the EBA and the SSM
      2,900
      meetings, contributions, notes and written procedures
    • Supervisory actions on banks and non-bank intermediaries
      15,900
      analyses, discussions, intervention letters and measures
    • Inspections
      116
      inspections
    • Sanctions
      26
      entities
      €1.5
      million
    • New authorized intermediaries
      36

    Supervision for the purposes of countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism

    • Contributions to the decisions of the EBA’s AMLSC
      4
      meetings
    • Supervisory actions on banks and non-bank intermediaries
      224
      meetings with corporate representatives
      197
      intervention letters
    • Participation in AML/CFT colleges
      3
      as lead supervisor
      44
      as host supervisor

    Consumer protection

    • ABF decisions
      15,000
      decisions
      62%
      with an outcome wholly or partially in favour of the customer
      €17
      million awarded to ABF claimants
    • Complaints
      13,800
      complaints examined
      46%
      with an outcome wholly or partially in favour of customers
    • Amounts refunded to customers
      €32.5
      million

    Financial Education

    • Financial Education Month (October 2023)
      422
      events
      25,514
      participants
    • Teaching materials distributed to schools
      58,141
      total copies
      51,420
      for students
    • Work experience projects
      242
      work experience projects
      2,600
      students involved
    • Financial education portal: 'Economics for everyone'
      130,000
      average unique visitors per month

    Crisis management

    • Compulsory administrative liquidation procedures managed
      20
      banks
      19
      other intermediaries
    • Compulsory liquidations of funds managed by asset management companies
      20
      funds
    • Voluntary liquidations supervised
      2
      banks
      19
      other intermediaries
    • Resolution plans for Italian intermediaries
      112
      less significant banks
      12
      significant banks (contributions to the SRB )
      12
      investment firms
    • Contributions to the work of the SRB, the EBA, the SSM and the FSB
      424
      meetings, notes and written procedures

    Research and statistics

    Banca d’Italia continued to contribute to the Eurosystem’s monetary policy decision-making process and to the drafting of structural and cyclical economic policy measures, both at European and national authority level, including through analysis and research.

    The decline in inflation, the slowdown in the economy and the continued effects of the energy price increases required more in-depth research on monetary policy, the real economy and financial stability.

    Banca d’Italia produces and publishes a wide range of statistics, which are essential for carrying out its institutional functions and for reporting on its own analyses and decisions.

    Indicators

    • Papers published
      216
      publications (of which 14 in the MISP series)
    • Research papers
      660,000
      downloads (including the MISP series)
    • Annual Report for 2022
      42,334
      downloads
    • Sample surveys
      22,000
      questionnaires sent to firms and economic operators
      9,000
      interviews on households’ income and wealth
    • Statistical publications
      620,000
      downloads
    • Statistical database (BDS)
      334,000
      accesses
    • Training for the central banks of emerging countries
      72
      events
      50
      participating countries
    • Seminars and scientific conferences
      100
    • Website access statistics
      995,000
      users a month on average
      2.2
      million downloads

    Services for the State

    In 2023, Banca d’Italia carried out about 155 million collection and payment transactions: 46 million transactions on behalf of central and local government agencies and over 109 million for other public entities. It also managed, on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), the placement of €514 billion of government securities on the domestic market and the settlement of the MEF's liquidity-raising and liquidity-lending operations in the more short-term segment of the money market.

    The Bank continued to work with the State Accounting Office and the Court of Auditors to update treasury procedures and IT systems, with the aim of simplifying and streamlining the general government bodies’ collection and disbursement procedures and reporting.

    The Bank manages the Siope IT system and the Siope+ platform, which has digitized the information flows between government bodies and the banks that provide them with treasury services.

    Indicators

    • Collections and payments on behalf of central government and public entities
      155
      million transactions
    • Placement of Italian government securities
      273
      transactions
      €514
      billion
    • Siope+
      69
      million transactions
      10,300
      members

    Sustainable investments and environmental, cultural and social stewardship

    Banca d’Italia adopts environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria when managing its investments. ESG criteria are applied to the investments in equities and bonds of private issuers. In 2023, the weighted average carbon intensity of the Bank’s equity investments was lower than that of their respective benchmarks.

    Over the year, Banca d’Italia’s carbon emissions fell by 4 per cent from 2022, and were more than 20 per cent lower than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic; electricity consumption was broadly in line with that of the previous year (11 per cent lower than in 2019).

    The Bank renewed its efforts to provide expert advice to the Italian Parliament, enhance its artistic, bibliographic and archival heritage, train young people and promote culture. In 2023, Banca d’Italia funded numerous socially responsible initiatives.

    As part of its commitment to society, it provides services to the general public, such as access to data held by the Central Credit Register and the Interbank Register of Bad Cheques and Payment Cards.

    Indicators

    Environment

    • Weighted average carbon intensity of equity investments
      -38%
      for euro-area equity investments
      -43%
      for US and Japanese equity investments in units of undertakings for collective investment
    • Greenhouse gas emissions
      -4%
      total emissions on 2022
      -24%
      total emissions on 2019
    • Electricity consumption
      +0%
      on 2022

    Culture and society

    • Research initiatives funded
      28
      research projects and fellowships
    • Training internships
      184
      internships
    • Contributions to the economic debate and parliamentary hearings
      110
      speeches by members of the Governing Board and other representatives
      9
      parliamentary hearings
      12
      written reports
    • Contributions to socially responsible initiatives
      €6
      million
      157
      initiatives

    Other services for the community

    • The Central Credit Register
      785,000
      hits
    • Interbank Register of Bad Cheques and Payment Cards
      65,197
      reports sent to applicants
    • Exchange rates portal
      264
      million website pageviews