Abstract

The objective of the present work is to sketch a proposal for the re-organisation of regulatory arrangements and supervisory agencies in Italy. This proposal follows the evolving role of financial markets and intermediaries in modern economies and is based on previous experiences in the matter of financial regulation at both national and international level. We start by reviewing objectives and theoretical models for the regulation and supervision of financial systems. We then move to highlight some features of current financial market regulation and supervision in Italy that we consider problematic. We propose a new institutional architecture for supervising the domestic financial market through the assignment of different objectives or "finalities" to different authorities. This perspective would entrust the three objectives of regulation and supervision - stability, transparency and efficiency - to three distinct authorities designed to oversee the entire financial market regardless of the subjective nature of the intermediaries. We think that such a proposal could be transferred to (or integrated in a wider but similar framework in) the Euro area.