La trasparenza tra banche e clienti. Fabbisogni informativi ed intervento pubblico

Literature devotes much space to the issue of banking transparency. The recent debate on the antitrust powers of the Bank of Italy has given new impetus to this subject. The dispute is certainly far from the conclusion. The object of the contention does not seem to be the desirability of transparency: it is now generally recognized that a richer and more timely information ensures a more efficient allocation of available resources, strengthens the market control and reduces the fragility of the banking system. The theme of the confrontation seems to be another: despite the disclosure of the system is desirable, there are doubts towards the market’s ability to produce the level of transparency considered socially acceptable. The aim of the volume is to take a position in the dispute between the arguments in favour of greater transparency and the reasons of those who maintain the confidentiality of banks. The work is organized as follows: Chapter 1 presents a review of the literature, identifies the causes that may push banks to keep confidential the information available, and assesses whether the identified reasons could justify a public intervention to encourage greater disclosure; the regulation of transparency introduced in our law is examined in Chapter 2; the objective of Chapter 3 is to appreciate the size and characteristics of information needs through the analysis of the decision-making and the way in which people accumulate and use knowledge in the purchasing processes of financial services. At the end, Chapter 4 examines the impact of the consumer preferences in the use of electronic channels on the effectiveness of the public intervention.