Panetta urges capital market finance for innovation

Banca d’Italia Governor Fabio Panetta has delivered a speech arguing that Europe and Italy need stronger capital markets and more risk capital to finance innovation.

• He said AI-driven investment is boosting markets, while large tech companies are accelerating spending on IT infrastructure and computing capacity; the speech also warns that semiconductor bottlenecks and higher energy prices could reverse current optimism.
• He added that Italian banks remain profitable, well capitalized, and have NPLs down to 1% of loans from more than 8% ten years ago, while global private equity and venture capital assets tripled between 2014 and 2025 to $10,000 billion.