Odd sort of ownership

摘要

One of the oddities of Italian finance is this: a great swathe of Italy's banks are owned not by institutional investors under pressure to produce returns. Rather, they are owned by charitable foundations, on whose boards sit cronies of local governments. Is it a coincidence Italy's banks are reckoned to have the worst credit quality and the poorest returns in Western Europe? Some foundations even feel some action is now needed at the banks.