from digitalization, and pursuing an international dialogue will be fundamental ( especially via the fin - net network of the european commission that connects the adr systems operating in the banking, financial and insurance sectors and is therefore an important forum for cross - border discussions ). the evolution underway also requires discussion between all the national competent authorities, at both national level, thanks to the coordination board at the ministry of economic development and, as we said before, in international fora too. 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches dialogue between adr and the civil justice system is also very important ( in italy there has long been a successful collaboration with the scuola superiore della magistratura, which i truly believe could be interesting at international level too ). a comparison of various adr systems in terms of structure, operations and customer care, but also of functions could provide some interesting insights. the international situation increasingly shows that adr entities perform important functions ( apart from resolving individual disputes ) : consultancy, financial education, data aggregation and putting pressure on the market. given the changes in the ecosystem, it is also interesting to understand if and how these functions have evolved. we are always on the lookout for new insights and trends arising from international debate and are ready to intercept potential best practices to provide us with inspiration ( subject, of course, to internal regulatory constraints ). we also firmly believe in the exchanging of experiences ( which now that the pandemic has eased, we have an opportunity to promote ). the delicate topic of the effectiveness of adr systems ( a quality requirement set by the adr directive ) is particularly interesting. it will also be fascinating to see what is surfacing from the latest academic debate on this and to understand how leveraging technology, especially artificial intelligence applied to alternative dispute resolution systems, could help to improve their effectiveness. the abf has made ample use of technology since it was founded : its procedures are completely digitalized, and it has had a portal since 2018 that allows people to communicate with the system online ; work is underway to open the portal to intermediaries as well to make the procedures even more efficient. the bank of italy is experimenting with the use of artificial intelligence at the abf : work is underway on the abeftech project that aims to apply machine learning and text analysis techniques to help with the work of the banking and financial ombudsman ; this project follows a similar ai tool ( called esptech ) already implemented for managing the complaints

riccardo faini memorial conference italy ’ s lost productivity and how to get it back bank of italy, via nazionale 91 opening remarks by ignazio visco governor of the bank of italy rome, 13 january 2017 i am pleased to welcome all participants to this conference to remember professor riccardo faini. i first met riccardo in 1978 when i presented a paper written with stefano micossi in the famous monetary workshop held by franco modigliani and stan fisher at mit ( riccardo was then a phd student with giampaolo galli and luca barbone … ). we met often in the following years inside and outside of italy, socially and professionally, exchanging views and commenting on each other writings. indeed, issues related to the topic of today ’ s conference – long - standing poor productivity dynamics in italy – happened to be at the centre of a couple of professional exchanges between us in the mid - 1990s and early 2000s, which i would like to briefly share with you. in 1994, at a seminar on “ the new frontiers of economic policy ” ( le nuove frontiere della politica economica ) organised by the innocenzo gasparini institute for economic research ( igier ), i discussed – along with luigi spaventa – a paper by riccardo on wage and productivity differentials ( stesso lavoro, diverso salario?, i. e. “ same jobs, different wages? ” ) between northern italy and southern italy – the mezzogiorno. the starting point of riccardo ’ s analysis was that a convergence in nominal wages between the two regions since the late - 1960s had not been accompanied by a parallel convergence of productivity levels ; the ensuing higher unit labour costs in southern italy were thus contributing to higher unemployment there. in order to achieve more wage flexibility in southern italy ’ s labour market, riccardo ’ s main proposal was to introduce a third type of wage bargaining arrangement – a regional one – to complement or replace bargaining at the centralised and firm levels, with a view to bringing closer wages and productivity levels while addressing higher unemployment in the south. in my comments i raised some criticisms, but on one major point we were in close agreement, namely that the issue of lower productivity ( and higher unit labour costs ) in southern italy should be addressed not only by reforming the labour market but also by implementing broader structural reforms to overcome well - known distortions of the general institutional