Italy’s economic recovery is helping banks reduce non-performing loans that are a legacy of the country’s "long and deep recession," said Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco, a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council.
"We have now reached a turning point,” Visco said in the text of a speech delivered on Tuesday at the central bank’s annual meeting in Rome. The moderate economic recovery under way since last year is being reflected in a significant decline in the flow of non-performing loans.”