Banks, rates, markets: finance is the protagonist in Trento

The world of finance plays a central role in the programme of the Trento 2025 Festival of Economics, scheduled from 22 to 25 May. This special edition will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival, which has grown and renewed itself over the years, also thanks to the new formula devised by the 24 ORE Group together with Trentino Marketing as organisers on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento and with the contribution of the Municipality of Trento and the University of Trento. The 2025 Festival will also celebrate the 160th anniversary of Il Sole 24 Ore, with many initiatives involving the public. The theme chosen this year, however, reflects the uncertainties and crises of the moment: 'Risks and fatal choices. Europe at the crossroads'.

An uncertainty that the world of finance is also suffering and experiencing in the markets. In Trento, there will be room to ask many questions on these issues and to try to put forward proposals. The Governor of the Bank of Italy Fabio Panetta, together with the editor-in-chief of Sole 24 Ore Fabio Tamburini and ten students, did so during the prologue to the Festival, which took place on 12 April, as part of a meeting dedicated to secondary school and university students.

The programme of the event features several keynote speeches from the financial universe. The one that stands out is that of Abi president Antonio Patuelli, who will explain why Europe cannot exist without a banking union, while Consob president Paolo Savona will speak on 'Legitimation of cryptocurrencies and risks for securities markets'. Also not to be missed is the speech by Donato Masciandaro, professor at Bocconi University and director of the Mef's Committee on Financial Education, on 'Hawks, doves and leopards: the new monetary policy routes of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank'. Great protagonists of finance then chose to speak at the Festival on topics not related to finance, but to geopolitics and the risks of a complex but stimulating period: from Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, chairman of the Caltagirone Group, to Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice-chairman Pirelli, from Paolo Scaroni, chairman of Enel, to Emma Marcegaglia, chairman and CEO of Marcegaglia holding (their panels were the focus of other in-depth reports in Il Sole 24 Ore).

Other panels revolving around the evolution of finance range from cryptocurrencies to economic and financial policies, from the challenge of government debt to the role of major currencies such as the dollar and the renminbi.