, Columnist
Italy’s Banks Stumble Into a New Crisis
The country’s lenders are stronger and better capitalized than in the past, but funding costs are increasing and bad loans are still a big problem.
The Italian banking crisis is the beast that never dies.
Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Spare a thought for Italian banks if you can. Barely recovered from their recent crisis, the country’s lenders find they have stumbled into a new one.
Rome’s populist administration has sent yields on government bonds soaring by passing a budget that busts the EU’s fiscal rules. And since Italian banks still hold hefty amounts of those bonds, investors have taken fright, dumping the lenders’ shares.