Savings Day

Patuelli: 'Savings are overtaxed and go abroad'. Mattarella: 'It is a value for the country's future'

Giorgetti: 'Rating agencies and markets are promoting us, a stable political environment and prudent fiscal policy are paying off'

31 October 2024

Il Presidente della Repubblica Sergio Mattarella in occasione dell'intervento alla cerimonia della 100^ Giornata Mondiale del Risparmio, Roma, 31 ottobre 2024. Ansa

5' min read

"What is evident is the very nature of individual and collective good at the same time represented by savings, a resource for the future, this is its second characteristic. The inclusion in the Constitution of the theme of savings is itself a value for the future of families and the country". So said Head of State Sergio Mattarella speaking on World Savings Day.

"Protecting real value savings priority commitment for Republic"

"The fight against inflation and the protection of the real value of savings are priority commitments for any State and, in particular, for our Republic," the Head of State added. And again: 'Initiatives to encourage savings are, therefore, still necessary and welcome. The first condition is that it is possible to save at an individual level. Today - data from the Bank of Italy tells us - 50% of the Italian population is still unable to save. With serious inequalities, and the increase in poverty risks perpetuating this condition over time'.

"Saving is needed to make the real economy work"

Saving 'plays a fundamental role in people's well-being, their future, that of their families. But it is also of primary importance for making the real economy work," the Head of State stressed. "To finance credit, savings is an indispensable source," he added. "Today, the surveys available from the Bank of Italy tell us that savings are used firstly to protect against unexpected events (the growth of uncertainty in the social and economic context tends to increase its relevance), then for the future, including pensions (given the awareness of the reduced generosity of pension systems), then for future generations, and finally to meet important expenses (often, of course, to have a house)".

"Financial education is today decisive for the exercise of one of the rights of citizenship that can help increase inclusion and, in general, the financial well-being of citizens," Mattarella insisted, referring to the protection of savings. Underlining the importance of financial education, Mattarella explained that 'innovation has also transformed the financial instruments used to manage savings, making them more effective, but also more complex to understand and manage, with exposure to fraud, exclusion; and with difficulties in recognising and exercising one's rights'.

Patuelli: savings are too taxed, go abroad

"The heavy taxation in Italy often pushes Italian savers to invest abroad," was the alarm raised by Abi president Antonio Patuelli at the Acri savings day. "This must be corrected soon, because the protection of savers is an ethical and strategic necessity for Italy". "We ask that tax laws better respect savings, which today is burdened by the ordinary tax of 26%, which adds to the tax burden on companies when it is invested in them." Patuelli mentioned the liquidity in current accounts, also the stamp duty, which is a patrimony to be abolished.

Panetta: towards bank mergers, also international

As for Bankitalia Governor Fabio Panetta, he pointed out that "in perspective, the high capital endowment and the foreseeable reduction in profitability may push banks towards concentration operations, also on a cross-border basis". "It is a transition that will have to take place by raising efficiency, creating strong, profitable intermediaries, able to better serve the real economy," he stressed. 'The European economy remains sluggish; still high real interest rates and the lack of the fiscal stimulus of the past few years are weighing on it. The Italian economy is feeling the effects of this," the Bank of Italy governor continued, recalling the causes of Italy's low growth, including "low innovative capacity and few investments" and "a fragmented production system oriented towards traditional sectors", weaknesses amplified by the high public debt and interest expenditure.

Giorgetti: 'Markets and rating agencies promote us'

The economy minister highlighted the recent promotion of Italy's public accounts by some rating agencies. "A stable political environment and prudent fiscal policy are bearing fruit, favouring Italy's growth prospects," Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said in his speech at World Savings Day. "The latest auctions," Giorgetti said, "have shown that demand for our government bonds is robust; the spread has narrowed significantly; the markets and rating agencies are promoting the government's action.

"Banks must operate freely in EU market"

"A Capital Markets Union will never be truly complete if the main market players, the banks, are not able to operate freely in the European market, on a scale appropriate to it," Giorgetti pointed out to the audience on World Savings Day. "In the Banking Union, and in European banking regulation in general, competitiveness will have to be given equal attention to that which in past years we have rightly attributed to stability," the minister hoped. "It is not suggesting that we underestimate the lessons of the Great Financial Crisis, but rather that we bear in mind that - as we have recalled, also in the European context in the face of risks of international competitive inequality - stability and growth are two sides of the same coin; there cannot be one without the other.

"We will put debt back on a realistic downward path"

With its medium-term budget structural plan, the government will guide the country's fiscal policy over the next five years in a logic of prudence, supporting the economic system and 'bringing the public debt back on a realistic downward path,' Giorgetti further explained during his speech. The minister added that in these two years of government, 'our action has been guided - and will continue to be guided - by the goal of reducing uncertainties and making the most of opportunities'.

"Public credit guarantees are selective"

Public guarantees for credit must continue to play "a supporting role" but with a "selective logic" and complementary to the banks' assessment, said the Minister of the Economy, according to whom such instruments are necessary, especially for SMEs, which have benefited from very high degrees of coverage in recent years. Giorgetti then pointed out that 'a balanced allocation of risk between public and private entities is in fact a necessary condition for reconciling a sound allocation of such risks with a prudent use of public resources'. "In the absence of a reversal of the trend, this could entail the risk of a weakening in the role of creditworthiness assessment by financial intermediaries. It is essential, therefore, to preserve a stable complementarity between the measure of the public guarantee - albeit lower than the higher average coverage levels of the emergency period - and a constant and targeted creditworthiness assessment of the business world,' the minister concluded.

"Open to revision of MEF-Foundations protocol"

"With regard to the Mef-Acri Protocol, in the context of the fruitful relationship between the Supervisory Authority and supervised entities, the Mef remains willing to initiate - in the competent venues - interlocutions to assess possible interventions in those areas that could be subject to an agreed revision," Giorgetti stressed.

"Awareness needed on high level of cryptocurrency risk"

Finally, the minister issued a warning to Italian savers: they must be aware of the very high level of risk of cryptocurrencies. "In the face of digital innovation, savers need to be aware of, and able to appreciate, the risks involved, and especially be able to distinguish between investments that, while risky, finance tangible projects, and other forms of investment, such as cryptocurrencies, whose value is completely disconnected from underlying assets or economic resources and present a very high level of risk." According to the minister, recent European regulation will help to distinguish and guide savers in this new terrain, but no legislation and supervision can be more effective than, or substitute for, informed individual decisions'.