Archive
Towards an Advanced Approach to Enterprise Risk Management
A recent position paper published by the Italian Association of Financial Industry Risk Managers (AIFIRM) in collaboration with PwC demonstrates the presence of an evolved best practice on the subject of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) in non-financial companies,[1] i.e. of a best practice strictly integrated with ESG policies (environmental, social, and governance factors), with the purpose and performance of businesses. However, unfortunately, the indicators on the spread of that best practice are not comforting, and not only in Italy, to tell the truth.[2] The spread certainly depends on the ...
Old and New Challenges for Italian Banks
The pandemic which has tormented us for over a year has also disrupted economic and financial activity, triggering a crisis that it will not be easy to overcome rapidly. Here I would like to attempt to describe some of the consequences of the virus on banks, with particular reference to Italian banks. To this end, it is useful to recall the problems our banks were dealing with before the outbreak of the pandemic, that were the following: low or even negative interest rates; very high credit risk accompanied by the incomplete definition of the formal and substantial treatment of NPLs; excessively ...
Old and New Challenges for Italian Banks
The pandemic which has tormented us for over a year has also disrupted economic and financial activity, triggering a crisis that it will not be easy to overcome rapidly. Here I would like to attempt to describe some of the consequences of the virus on banks, with particular reference to Italian banks. To this end, it is useful to recall the problems our banks were dealing with before the outbreak of the pandemic, that were the following: low or even negative interest rates; very high credit risk accompanied by the incomplete definition of the formal and substantial treatment of NPLs; excessively ...
After Brexit: A (Still) Long and Winding Road
The "long and winding road" (as the Beatles would say) of the United Kingdom's divorce from the European Union was begun over four years ago, and its principal stages have been summarized in a document that can be downloaded from the website of the Library of the House of Commons.[1] In a referendum held on June 23, 2016, the majority of voters chose to leave the European Union. On March 29, 2017, in a letter to the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, the conservative Prime Minister Theresa May formally activated Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU), that allows each ...
The Visible Hand of the State
A 50-second video was enough to revive Alibaba stocks on the Hong Kong stock market: plus 8.5 percent in one afternoon, for a total of 5 billion dollars. On January 20, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba and one of the richest men in the People's Republic of China, reappeared after almost three months of absence, for an online event with the one hundred best teachers from rural China. He said he was sorry that he could not be present due to the pandemic, and made no mention of his recent disappearance. Then he returned to silence and his absence from the political scene. On October 24, Ma had publicly ...
For a Sustainable Capitalism
The year 2020 was disruptive for businesses, that are rethinking their role in social and other terms, and considering their activities from the standpoint of greater sustainability. Studies on "business finalism," understood as a process of continuous searching, definition, and redefinition of the meaning of individual, organizational, entrepreneurial, social, and institutional roles of business, trace back to Adam Smith. After having studied social and moral philosophy, as economics was not yet an academic discipline, Smith wrote An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations ...
Sustainability at the Center of Business
It was the end of 2019 when Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish activist who travelled the world and awoke the conscience of thousands of youth on the question of climate, was named "Person of the Year" by TIME magazine, receiving the honor of the cover and the attention of political leaders, top managers, and entrepreneurs. In the same period, the European Union approved the Green Deal, the imposing Action Plan that, through the allocation of approximately one trillion euros over the span of a decade, has the goal of transforming the climate and environmental challenge into an opportunity, guaranteeing ...
A Question of Management
We are facing the worst period of the pandemic. This is the view of experts in various fields of medicine, and is stressed by many authoritative political representatives. We knew that this period would come, but as beforehand, we found ourselves unprepared. Not on all fronts, certainly; for example, masks and other personal protective equipment are now widely available. But many things have certainly not functioned properly: the tracing system based on the Immuni app, the long lines for tests, the local transportation systems in many regions, and so on. Why is this? There are various reasons, ...
A Question of Management
We are facing the worst period of the pandemic. This is the view of experts in various fields of medicine, and is stressed by many authoritative political representatives. We knew that this period would come, but as beforehand, we found ourselves unprepared. Not on all fronts, certainly; for example, masks and other personal protective equipment are now widely available. But many things have certainly not functioned properly: the tracing system based on the Immuni app, the long lines for tests, the local transportation systems in many regions, and so on. Why is this? There are various reasons, ...
Inflation: A Premature Funeral?
Has the time come to celebrate the funeral of inflation and think that monetary and fiscal policy must deal exclusively with economic growth and employment? The debate is not only underway, but also lively: on the one side, the doves, ready with the requiem; on the other, the hawks, ready to swear to the resurrection. What arguments does each side have? Let us start with what we know. Economic analysis tells us in general that a pandemic recession can have both deflationary and inflationary effects. In fact, it all comes from a non-economic shock, in which the unpredictable event (the outbreak ...