even more important to seek the necessary complementarities with good regulation and supervision. reduction of the risks for customers also depends on the reform of the rules governing non - bank intermediaries that grant credit, financial agents and loan brokers. in recent years the bank has paid a high and increasing level of attention to such reform. the objective is to have rules that encourage a smaller number of sound and professional operators, together with reliable and diversified channels of distribution that can also stimulate competition in the sector. we have worked to permit the prompt application of the new rules. the usual cooperation was provided to the ministry for the economy and finance for the drafting of the implementing measures within its sphere of competence ; the framework for the supervisory rules to be applied to financial intermediaries is being prepared after a first round of public consultation ; the necessary support has been provided for the start of operations of the financial agents and loan brokers oversight body, which a few days ago began to accept new registrations. in june the council of ministers approved the first reading of a measure that introduces further amendments to the text of the reform and is now being examined by parliament. as regards the rules for financial agents and credit brokers, care must be taken to avoid uncertainty about the duties and powers of supervision and interpretative and applicative difficulties for the market. * * * the italian economy needs intermediaries and financial markets that allocate the savings entrusted to them in the best possible way and at the lowest possible cost. in this period banks are being called on to make difficult decisions : to ensure viable businesses continue to be financed and to avoid prolonging support for those destined to fail. this is the essence of sound and prudent management. the timing and strength of the economic recovery also depend on the outcome of these choices. in italy the ratio of corporate debt to gdp is similar to the level in the other leading euro - area economies. here bank loans to the productive sector are a larger share of the total, a difference that is only partly explained by the greater presence of small and medium - sized firms. for many businesses bank loans are the sole source of external funding, even though their size and characteristics are comparable to those of firms that in other countries raise funds directly on the capital markets. a very large portion of the risk stemming from business activities falls on banks ’ balance sheets, and in times of recession translates into impaired loans, bad debts and losses, with serious repercussions on the flow

data producer, the bank of italy has always strived to make its statistics available to the widest possible audience. we already share some data with researchers and other institutions, while protecting confidentiality. we have also started to design a research data centre that will provide a safe haven for processing different kinds of microdata. the number of possible applications of big data for central banks is huge, but some are critical. the financial services sector handles sensitive information about individuals and firms. more data available in digital format makes life easier for analysts but increases exposure to security breaches. as more services go online, data ubiquity, and hence data security, are proving to be a major challenge for both private companies and central banks. financial operators are able to gather massive amounts of data about customers and visitors, which are then analysed to generate insights into buying behaviour. some of this data is personal, and deserves to be protected against inappropriate use. that is a goal that the whole of society must pursue. another important aspect of these innovative technologies is financial stability. new entries have arrived in the landscape of financial services ; fintech is a portmanteau word meaning any application of digital technologies to finance. under this label we can include both giants of the digital world wanting to enter the financial market and tiny start - ups whose ambition is to erode the market power of the incumbents. all this is beneficial to competition and productivity in the financial industry, provided that the new entrants are properly supervised. technology can help to innovate financial products and services currently provided by the traditional industry to the benefit of consumers. however, given all the well - known interconnections between operators in the market, the repercussions of technological innovation on the system ’ s stability are not clear. public institutions like central banks and other financial supervisory authorities should examine the matter carefully. the bank of italy has created an internal multidisciplinary team on big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. the team includes economists, statisticians and computer scientists from different departments, working in close cooperation with the information technology department. ivass, the insurance supervisory authority working under the umbrella of the bank of italy, has opened a regulatory sandbox for some aspects of fintech / insurtech. to conclude, i am confident this conference will be an important occasion to review the most recent findings on big data econometrics and its application to national institutions, in particular central banks, and