faces the challenge of adapting to the new context. our primary goal should be to ensure ease of access to european markets and infrastructure for our firms and intermediaries. we need to reflect together on the best way to achieve this. the integration of securities clearing and settlement systems has not yet reached a satisfactory level owing to differences in national infrastructures that predated the launch of the monetary union. the existence of numerous national systems, with their non - standard services, diverse market practices and different laws and tax rules, increases the risks and costs of settling cross - border transactions. some specific barriers to integrating post - trading systems have been clearly identified. the removal of those created by differences in laws and regulations will require sometimes complex legislative intervention. the removal of strictly technical barriers and barriers created by market practices can be effected at the initiative of market operators themselves. there is no reason to wait. a set of european rules is already in place to promote market integration and transparency by regulating such matters as settlement finality, market abuse, collateral, prospectuses and takeover bids. the directive on markets in financial instruments issued in april 2004 will spur competition by abolishing the requirement to conduct all transactions on regulated markets, encourage the provision of crossborder financial services and strengthen investor protection. the complex process of implementing the directive must be speeded up, at both community and national level. 4. the role of intermediaries in asset management the saving rate of the italian economy, especially among households, is still high, despite a long - term downward trend. it is associated with a level of household wealth that is also high. savings continue to be a fundamental resource for economic growth. efficient management of the country ’ s savings is a competitive challenge and an opportunity for growth, both of the economy as a whole and of the financial industry. in italy as elsewhere the composition of households ’ financial wealth has shifted in the last few years, as a result of more active, diversified and efficient portfolio management. between 1995 and 2004 the share of bank and postal deposits fell from more than 40 per cent to barely 25 per cent and that of publicsector securities from 23 to 7 per cent, while the incidence of private - sector bonds, equities and investment fund units increased. fund units are now as important as in the other leading industrial countries. the share of insurance products and private pension funds is much smaller, however, essentially because of the broad coverage provided by the public pension system. the share of private -

sector, took almost two years to complete. the discussions between the supervisory authorities and future parent banks on preparing the applications to create the new banking groups have been intensive. the reform preserves the banks ’ cooperative and mutualistic spirit, even within the new regulatory and market environment. precisely in order to pursue these objectives the law envisages that the bccs will be majority stakeholders of the new parent banks. as members of a banking group, bccs can tap capital markets in times of need, warding off potential crises. they can share best practices and centralize key oversight and production functions, with cost and revenue synergies that individual members can exploit while maintaining a relatively small scale of operations. the pooling of horizontal functions means bccs could focus on developing their regional presence, with benefits for local economies and customer bases. even the most ‘ virtuous ’ of these banks could raise their current efficiency levels ; businesses and shareholder / customers could gain access to a broader range of products and services. the system of joint and several guarantees would allow the weakest bccs to take effective and timely action to overhaul their business models, both in terms of their capital positions and the range of services offered to firms and households. capital adequacy and profitability during the crisis, even when market conditions were especially harsh, italy ’ s banks undertook significant capital strengthening. the cet1 ratio, which today stands on average at just below 14 per cent, has almost doubled since 2008. the increase was achieved together with the introduction of stricter rules on minimum capital requirements ( pillar 1 ) and supplementary requirements by supervisors ( pillar 2 ) to counter risks not covered under the first pillar. the conclusion, to all intents and purposes, of the basel iii agreement at the end of last year reduced the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the long and complex process of drafting the measures that were first announced and then gradually adopted by the basel committee. the progressive application of the rules over a period of five years, from 2022 to 2027, allows banks to plan the necessary changes well ahead of time. the transposition into european law of the agreement finalized a few months ago in basel has just begun. the commission has called for the eba ’ s technical advice in setting out the procedures for implementing the new international rules, taking account of european specificities and of the need to uphold the principle of proportionality in their application to small banks. the impact of the new rules on italy ’ s banks appears modest overall. recent