News Analysis: Why Bank of Italy drawing criticism for not doing more to avert banking crisis

In recent days, the Bank of Italy is coming under unusual pressure on allegations that it could have done more to avert the banking sector crisis gripping the country.

But experts and observers are split on whether the Bank of Italy, the country's central bank, could have done more to avoid the current situation.

Scattered media attacks against the 123-year-old institution began last year, after thousands of small bank shareholders lost their investments after the government bailed out four small regional banks.

As those problems spread throughout the banking system, pressure mounted: in recent days some lawmakers have called for the resignation of Ignazio Visco, the central bank governor, and protests outside the bank's Rome headquarters have called for reforms.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said he has "complete confidence" in the Bank of Italy.

But critics point out that the parliamentary inquiry into the bank bailout and the appointment of an official from outside the Bank of Italy to oversee the reimbursement process could signal some behind-the-scenes dissatisfaction with the Bank of Italy.

"There are those within the Renzi government who seem to believe the Bank of Italy could have done more to avert crisis," ABS Securities analyst Andrea Filippini told Xinhua.

For most of its existence, the Bank of Italy's main role had been to regulate the lira currency, the original Italian money, by setting interest rates and overseeing the printing of new currency.

But that role disappeared with the introduction of the euro currency.

That changed the Bank of Italy's main focus to that of the main banking sector regulator. Over that time, the percentage of non-performing loans in the Italian banking sector has mushroomed: from a little under 5 percent in 2007, before the start of the banking crisis, to around 18 percent now.

But economists said it would be wrong to blame that growth on the Bank of Italy.

"The Bank of Italy has been saying for 30 years that there should be reforms to the rules for bank reserve requirements," Luigi Guiso, a finance expert with the Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance and a former Bank of Italy official, said in an interview.

"But changes haven't been made and in the end, the institution is limited to what the law allows it to do," said the expert.

Ruggero Bertelli, a banking professor from the University of Siena, agreed.

"The Bank of Italy has wide-ranging powers, but there are limits," Bertelli said in an interview. "It does not have a way to avert an economic crisis on its own."

This is not the first time the Bank of Italy has faced scandal: a decade ago, then-governor Antonio Fazio stepped down after it was revealed he tried to illegally block a takeover of an Italian bank by a foreign institution. As a result, the Bank of Italy lost exclusive regulatory control over the competition-related aspects of the credit sector, with the country's antitrust authority now playing a role.

According to Filippini, the analyst, there is an important difference between the events of 2005 and 2006 and those of today.

"There was a clear connection to the Bank of Italy," Filippini said. "Now, the connection is much more vague." Endit