incorrectly. there are nearly 5, 000 such complaints per year. the banking supervision department checks that the banks involved respond promptly and adequately. however, for the protection rules to be fully effective, it is necessary to create the conditions for an increase in bank customers ’ knowledge of the characteristics of the financial products in which they invest their savings, the yields they can expect, and the nature and size of the risks they run. several surveys have shown the existence of gaps to be filled. recently, authorities, trade associations – including abi – and consumer associations have taken initiatives in this field. as of last year the bank of italy has devoted a section of its website to financial education ; in addition, we have launched, in cooperation with the ministry of education, a training programme for school teachers, so that economic and financial education can be included in the syllabus. the governance of banks on the basis of the rules the bank of italy laid down in march, banks must submit a governance plan and approve the necessary bylaw amendments by june 2009. the bank of italy does not prefer one or another of the board models provided for by civil law ; it nonetheless takes a firm line in ensuring that, no matter which mode is chosen, the principles of sound and prudent management are complied with in the bylaws and in practice. to the same end, the rules that we have adopted require banks to introduce limits on the positions that their corporate officers can hold on other governing bodies ; they also prohibit members of control bodies from having operating responsibilities in other group companies or strategic affiliates. the presence of persons on more than one board of directors is to be considered natural within a group. responsibility for assessing any competition issues arising from the presence of directors on the boards of more than one company lies with the antitrust authority, with which we are ready to cooperate, so as to coordinate interventions in the matters for which we are respectively competent. the prevention of conflicts of interest is also achieved through limits and conditions for banks ’ assumption of related party risks. a set of rules has just been submitted to the interministerial committee for credit and savings. for its part, consob is drawing up rules, applicable to all listed companies and companies with shares widely distributed among the public, which assign a key role to the independent directors in transactions with related parties. together with consob, we shall ensure that the rules are coordinated and limit the compliance burden on intermediaries. overcoming the asset management crisis the

group that we established with asset management companies, and with the participation of the government and consob, to propose measures to counter the decline of the italian asset management industry, is about to complete its work. a first conclusion is that it is necessary to intervene on the tax distortions that penalize italian investment funds. as is the case elsewhere, they should be taxed on distributed profits and realized capital gains, not on their accrued results. the distortions produced by transparency legislation, which is particularly stringent for investment funds, must be eliminated. it is not a question of reducing the safeguards applicable to investment funds, but of increasing, substantively and not just formally, those applicable to other financial products. in particular, for insurance policies of a financial nature, more information must be disclosed on their liquidity ; for bank bonds, customers must be given clearer and more complete information on the costs, risks and liquidity of the investment and on the yield of the instrument compared with that of other securities. the fair value determined by the issuer bank must be reported periodically to the purchasers, especially for unlisted instruments for which the issuer ’ s commitment to buy them back is the main guarantee of the possibility of liquidating the investment. new rules on fairness and transparency for the distribution of illiquid financial products have been announced by consob ; intermediaries will have to comply with them without delay. the independence of asset management companies is essential. the reduction of conflicts of interest must be furthered by a self - regulatory code of conduct that strengthens this characteristic. it is indispensable that independent directors hold the majority of seats on these companies ’ boards. by the autumn, using our powers, we will adopt measures to separate the running of bank - controlled asset management companies more completely from that of the banking group to which they belong, by clarifying the limits and purposes of the parent company ’ s powers of guidance. lastly, and i come to the hardest task, it is necessary to upgrade the manner in which financial products are offered to investors, in order to realize in full the principle contained in the consolidated law on finance that intermediaries must act in the customer ’ s interest. the service of providing financial advice must be defined more sharply and made more professional, promoting competition and transparency. the provision of investment advice must be clearly distinguished from the placement of own products, carried out in the customer ’ s interest and not be limited to pushing house products