address by governor financial year 126th financial year ordinary general meeting of shareholders rome, 31 march 2020 th address by governor ordinary general meeting of shareholders rome, 31 march 2020 ladies and gentlemen, italy, europe, and the entire world are experiencing the same anxiety and difficulty that come with any unprecedented challenge. aside from posing a deadly threat to public health and putting a severe strain on national health systems, the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease ( covid - 19 ) has transformed our daily lives, our work processes, the functioning of our schools and universities ; the extent of the impact on the economic and financial system will be as wide as it is deep. in carrying out its institutional functions, and in tandem with the other national institutions, the bank of italy has taken the necessary action to limit the economic repercussions of the pandemic. while the health of all of our staff is our absolute priority, we continue to guarantee the provision of essential services to the wider public. in my concluding remarks delivered on 31 may last, i recalled the changes made to the composition of the governing board in 2019 : fabio panetta was appointed senior deputy governor, luigi federico signorini confirmed as deputy governor, and alessandra perrazzelli and daniele franco also both appointed as deputy governors. i wish once again to thank salvatore rossi and valeria sannucci for their many years of service to the bank, in the roles of senior deputy governor and deputy governor respectively. the bank is – we all are – hugely indebted to them. on 1 january this year the composition of the board of directors changed again. daniele franco succeeded fabio panetta as senior deputy governor following the latter ’ s appointment to the ecb ’ s executive board. our thanks also go to fabio panetta ; we wish him every success in his new important role. finally, piero cipollone, formerly managing director responsible for high - level consultancy to the governing board on matters pertaining to the organization of the bank ’ s functions and institutional relations, was appointed deputy governor. last year the process of reallocating the bank ’ s capital continued. since the launch of the reform of the bank ’ s ownership structure ( law 5 / 2014 ), 40. 4 per cent of its capital has been reallocated, 7 per cent since march 2019. banca d ’ italia address by governor ordinary general meeting of shareholders of the 143 current shareholders, 115 invested after the reform law was passed ( 6 insurance companies

, also contributed positively to the increase in gross profit, rising by €0. 2 billion on 2018 to €9. 6 billion. operating expenses declined by about 1 per cent, reflecting in part lower depreciation. although there were minor internal changes in composition, staff costs and administrative expenses remained essentially unchanged. in order to cope with the risks to which the bank is exposed, financial buffers were increased by transferring to the general risk provision the same banca d ’ italia address by governor ordinary general meeting of shareholders amount as the year before ( €1. 5 billion ), without affecting the statutory reserves. taxes for the year amounted to about €1 billion, similar to the figure recorded in 2018 ( €1. 2 billion ). the bank ’ s human resource policies are contributing to a generational turnover that is reflected in a gradual decline in the staff ’ s average age, which was 48. 3 years at the end of the year. women now represent a larger proportion of total staff, rising from 36 to 38 per cent over the last five years. these staff - related initiatives flank those to reorganize the bank ’ s structure in order to make the performance of its institutional activities at the service of the public more effective, and to adapt its working practices to developments at national and european level. in relation to this, in july 2019, the statistics function was reorganized to improve the quality of the data produced by the bank, to make production processes more efficient, and to further develop the methodologies used. in early 2020, the powers of the financial intelligence unit for italy ( uif ) were enhanced by strengthening its inspection and sanctioning functions. two more organizational changes were also made ; the first was to strengthen the bank ’ s consumer protection and financial education functions by transferring their activities to a new directorate general ; the second was to integrate traditional retail payment services and highly technological and innovative payment services within a single directorate general. as usual, further information on the activities of the bank and on the organizational and management measures implemented in 2019 is available in the report on operations and activities of the bank of italy, which will be published in may, on the occasion of the presentation of the annual report. proposal for the allocation of the net profit shareholders, pursuant to article 38 of the statute, acting on a proposal of the governing board and after hearing the opinion of the board of auditors, i present for your approval the board of directors ’ proposal for the allocation of the net profit.