Bank of Italy Announces Regulatory Measures to Ease Impact of COVID
Bank of Italy has announced certain measures to address the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The central bank announced some temporary measures regarding resolution to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 for less significant intermediaries. Bank of Italy has also adopted measures to support lending to small and medium-size enterprises and to facilitate the access of Italian banks to the liquidity offered by the Eurosystem.
In May 2020, the Governing Council of ECB approved the first set of measures to extend Bank of Italy's scheme for additional bank loans (Additional Credit Claims, ACC). These measures entered into force on May 25, 2020 and will be applied until September 2021. In June 2020, Bank of Italy adopted further measures to extend the Additional Credit Claims scheme. In June 2020, the Governing Council of ECB approved a second series of measures to extend the Bank of Italy's scheme for additional bank loans (Additional Credit Claims, ACC). The measures are aimed at supporting the flow of credit to households and businesses and favoring the access of Italian banks to central bank liquidity. The aforementioned measures will enter into force on June 17, 2020 and will be applied until September 2021.
Additionally, as part of the actions taken in response to the pandemic, ECB and Bank of Italy have introduced extraordinary measures to expand the value of the assets that can be transferred to guarantee monetary policy operations, by easing the criteria of suitability and risk control. Bank of Italy has expanded the national scheme related to additional bank loans, allowing banks to allocate loans supported by the state guarantee pursuant to the Liquidity Decree. Bank of Italy, along with other Italian authorities, has also published a set of suggestions that public administrations can follow to reduce the risk of accepting invalid financial guarantees. Various suggestions have been provided, including how to ascertain whether the guarantee is issued by a legitimate subject, the methods for understanding whether the guarantee envisaged is false, and the compliance of the contractual conditions with the provisions of the legislation and/or the contract notice.
Related Links (in Italian)
- Notification on Resolution Measures for Less Significant Intermediaries
- Notification on Measures to Extend Additional Credit Claims Scheme, June 2020
- Notification on Measures to Extend Additional Credit Claims Scheme, May 2020 (PDF)
- Notification on Asset Expansion Measures
- Notification on Suggestions on Financial Guarantee (PDF)
Keywords: Europe, Italy, Banking, COVID-19, SME, Reporting, Loan Moratorium, Credit Risk, Loan Guarantee, ECB, Bank of Italy
Featured Experts

María Cañamero
Skilled market researcher; growth strategist; successful go-to-market campaign developer

Victor Calanog, Ph.D.
Leading economist; commercial real estate; performance forecasting, econometric infrastructure; data modeling; credit risk modeling; portfolio assessment; custom commercial real estate analysis; thought leader.

Nicolas Degruson
Works with financial institutions, regulatory experts, business analysts, product managers, and software engineers to drive regulatory solutions across the globe.
Previous Article
EBA Updates Single Rulebook Q&A in June 2020Related Articles
US Agencies Issue Several Regulatory and Reporting Updates
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FED) adopted the final rule on Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act.
ECB Issues Multiple Reports and Regulatory Updates for Banks
The European Central Bank (ECB) published an updated list of supervised entities, a report on the supervision of less significant institutions (LSIs), a statement on macro-prudential policy.
HKMA Keeps List of D-SIBs Unchanged, Makes Other Announcements
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published a circular on the prudential treatment of crypto-asset exposures, an update on the status of transition to new interest rate benchmarks.
EU Issues FAQs on Taxonomy Regulation, Rules Under CRD, FICOD and SFDR
The European Commission (EC) adopted the standards addressing supervisory reporting of risk concentrations and intra-group transactions, benchmarking of internal approaches, and authorization of credit institutions.
CBIRC Revises Measures on Corporate Governance Supervision
The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued rules to manage the risk of off-balance sheet business of commercial banks and rules on corporate governance of financial institutions.
HKMA Publications Address Sustainability Issues in Financial Sector
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) made announcements to address sustainability issues in the financial sector.
EBA Updates Address Basel and NPL Requirements for Banks
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published regulatory standards on identification of a group of connected clients (GCC) as well as updated the lists of identified financial conglomerates.
ESMA Publishes 2022 ESEF XBRL Taxonomy and Conformance Suite
The General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), at its December meeting, issued an updated risk assessment via the quarterly risk dashboard and held discussions on key policy priorities to address the systemic risks in the European Union.
FCA Sets up ESG Committee, Imposes Penalties, and Issues Other Updates
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking comments, until December 21, 2022, on the draft guidance for firms to support existing mortgage borrowers.
FSB Reports Assess NBFI Sector and Progress on LIBOR Transition
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report that assesses progress on the transition from the Interbank Offered Rates, or IBORs, to overnight risk-free rates as well as a report that assesses global trends in the non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) sector.