The gatekeeper

摘要

Europe's much-promised single market in financial services is taking a long time to create. It might never be finished, indeed, without a fight or two. So it may be a good sign that, after only a couple of months in his job, Charlie McCreevy, the European Union's commissioner for the internal market, is squabbling with Antonio Fazio, governor of the Bank of Italy. On February 8th Mr McCreevy wrote to Mr Fazio, asking him "to correct the impression" that he is trying to stop foreigners buying their way into Italy's banking market. Several newspapers had reported an unofficial deal between Mr Fazio and the Italian government to block foreign takeovers. The governor has not replied officially, but did use a speech last weekend to laud the openness of the Italian banking industry. Foreigners, he said, own on average 17% of the capital of Italy's four largest banks, compared with 7% of Germany's top four and 3% of France's.