The Management of Non-Performing Loans: A Survey Among the Main Italian Banks

Abstract

Questo studio illustra i risultati di un'indagine sull'efficacia delle procedure di recupero dei crediti alle imprese condotta dalla Banca d'Italia nel 2015 presso i maggiori gruppi bancari. Il tasso di recupero delle liquidazioni nel periodo 2011-14 è stato leggermente superiore al 40 per cento e la maggior parte del recupero è stata conseguita nei primi cinque anni dall'avvio della procedura. A quattro anni dal loro avvio, quasi due terzi delle ristrutturazioni risultano ancora in corso. L'età media delle liquidazioni aperte alla fine del 2014 era il doppio rispetto a quella delle ristrutturazioni e i crediti sottoposti a ristrutturazione sono assistiti da garanzia reale per circa otto punti percentuali in più rispetto alle liquidazioni. Nel 2014 la gestione dei crediti deteriorati ha assorbito il 2,8 per cento dei costi operativi delle banche, una percentuale in crescita rispetto agli anni precedenti. I diversi assetti organizzativi delle banche per la gestione dei crediti deteriorati si sono associati anche a una diversa disponibilità di informazioni sui temi oggetto dell'indagine.

Cleaning-up Bank Balance Sheets: Economic, Legal, and Supervisory Measures for Italy

“…Small enterprises are not subject to general insolvency law, and fall within the scope of the personal insolvency regime. Enterprises subject to special supervisory or regulatory regimes have their own liquidation procedure (liquidazione coatta amministrativa).20 The survey conducted byCarpinelli et al (2016) shows that banks make extensive use of restructuring agreements. It is difficult to conclude, however, about the effectiveness of these agreements, since there could be a selection bias (using these agreements only for companies in minor distress), and the restructuring agreement could be the start of a sequence of restructuring attempts, ending in liquidation.21 This decline in reorganizations was probably the result of the reintroduction of stricter requirements for the initiation of reorganization procedures, as discussed in the text.…”

Promoting a private investment renaissance in Italy

“…The large valuation gap stems from the high discount rate investors use for valuing non-performing loans compared to banks due in part to the costly, long and uncertain loan-foreclosure procedures, which raise perceived risks. A survey of the Bank of Italy covering the 2011-14 period (Carpinelli et al, 2016) reveals the average length of loan recoveries was 3.5 years; the average recovery rate was about 40% on average and declining. Some of the government's reforms discussed above aim at accelerating foreclosures.…”

Financial Contracting with Enforcement Externalities

“…Using a quantitative model, Herkenhoff and Ohanian (2015) estimate that foreclosure delays added 25% to the delinquency rate during the crisis. Carpinelli et al (2016) document that judiciary backlogs were the primary factor behind the slower resolution of non-performing loans during this time period in Italy. The Bank of Italy (2013) documents that the average time to write off bad debt from banks' balance sheets went up from less than 4 years to over 6 years in Italy between 2007 and 2011.…”