Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to find out how effectively implemented are measuring approaches to compliance and whether there is a correlation between the measures implementation, financial specialisation and international activity. The authors evaluate if the regulatory framework implies a measure cost asymmetry, depending both on the proportionality principle and on the existence of different supervisors with an heterogeneous set of enforcement rules. Design/methodology/approach -The analysis is based on a survey involving 84 financial firms (banks, investment companies and insurance companies). Two criteria have been used to interpret the results: the prevailing workability within international and domestic intermediaries; the intermediary typology, creating a distinction between banks other financial intermediaries (FIs) and insurance companies. Findings -Italian financial firms are sensitive to minimise sanctions, but the reputational impact is becoming more important. International firms are more sophisticated than domestic ones for their ability to measure both the probability of non-compliance events and their severity. Banks show the highest attitude to adopt insurance or financial contracts to minimise the negative impact of non-compliant behaviours. Small FIs are late in measuring the exposure and losses due to non-compliance actions. Originality/value -Four years after the Basel Document on compliance, a large percentage of firms is still managing the process within a function with different purposes; nevertheless, reputational impact has become more important. Small intermediaries show a lower attitude to implement a risk management approach, with a capital management sensitivity. This finding addresses the question about the existence of size effect which could reduce the compliance attitude.

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The textile sector in Italy has traditionally played an important role in the national economy: To date, it weighs about 4% of GDP. Despite international competition, the sector maintains its importance which is internationally recognized. The firms in the sector are committed to remaining competitive, investing in innovation and communication, increasingly seeking internationalization. To keep up with the competition, it is necessary to have financial resources to cover these investments. In Italy, with the exception of some great outliers, the sector is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises: The small size makes often more difficult to raise funds. The paper aims to analyze the cost of financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Italian textile sector, verifying also if it remains a prevailing orientation towards debt financing. Using the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) formula, the study focuses on 2,446 companies, with financial data available on the Orbis database by Bureau van Dijk. Results confirm a strong unbalanced structure towards debt financing; however, the cost of capital is mitigated by the cost of "standing alone" debt, much lower than that one of shareholders' funds.