as migration, terrorism, climate change or the vagaries of an increasingly interconnected economy. returning to my starting point, in order to make our way forward we may need to look back at our history, cherish the good we see in the past and jettison the bad. the roman ‘ economic and monetary union ’ was strong because it was backed by political union, and we should strive to achieve such a union – by peaceful means, of course ; at the same time it was weak, because it was designed for the benefit of a few to the detriment of many, a mistake that we should certainly try to avoid today.

. without detracting from the importance of economic and monetary policies or of the action of the bodies entrusted with safeguarding macrofinancial stability, the fundamental aspect consists in the steps banks take to strengthen their risk - management policies and procedures and to counter the pressure on their margins arising from the growth in competition in national and international markets. in europe the presence of many large global firms of high standing, the dismantling of the barriers inherent in the denomination of securities in different currencies and the possibility of referring to a single yield curve will foster the development of the market for private sector securities. for large companies, whose operations cover several national markets and whose financial management involves several different currencies, the new single currency regime will reduce the need to do business with a plurality of banks. a reduction in the demand for credit from prime companies appears possible, the spread of private sector securities may cause problems for fund - raising. though marked by national traits in legal and fiscal matters, the configuration of the financial system of the european union will becorne more similar to that of the anglo - saxon systems. the profitability of traditional lending to enterprises is likely to come under pressure ; the need to develop business with different categories of customers and to look for profit opportunities in foreign markets will involve both old and new credit risks. the changes under way make it necessary to grasp the growth opportunities offered by corporate finance services ; this will give further impetus to the spread of financial techniques for the management of risk and to the growth of the securitization market. the ability to manage risks, above all credit risk, efficiently, will be a competitive strength of crucial importance ; it requires intermediaries to adopt the innovations made possible by today ’ s statistical models and financial techniques, to integrate them into their internal organizations, and to develop the necessary professional skills. active management of the loan portfolio, frequently indicated as the new frontier in lending, cannot be independent of the effectiveness of the traditional procedures, from the assessment of creditworthiness to the constant monitoring of loan performance. in a market such as italy ’ s, in which very little recourse has been made to rating by specialized agencies, banks lacking an internal rating system sound enough to be approved by the supervisory authorities would find themselves at a competitive disadvantage. businesses of high standing would stand to obtain better conditions from other banks able to apply capital charges more consistent with the riskiness of the financing. the revision of the capital adequacy framework is