The local financial system in Northeast Italy: an interview with Massimo Malvestio

The opening-up of capital can provide the production system with a big boost, but efficiency is needed in the local financial system. Value investing expert Massimo Malvestio talked about this in an interview with Italian newspaper “Nordest Economia”, in which he addressed the growing inclination of companies to open up their capital to third parties, in particular in the Triveneto area.
As he emphasized, “over the last year, the multiples offered by the markets to small companies have grown” and this has prompted many companies to go public. Not surprisingly, private equity investments have grown. Furthermore, the regulatory system gave impetus to this thanks to “several measures facilitating the listing of smaller companies and bringing assets closer to risk capital”. According to Massimo Malvestio, there is reason to believe that this change will consolidate and develop further if the legislative framework remains favorable.
In his interview, the value investing expert added that “transparency is now in the DNA of the vast majority of companies”: today, “the rules of the stock market are not perceived as a trauma, unlike what happened in the past”. To this is added a new growth opportunity for Italy, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). According to the expert, we need to leverage talented people in order to make the most of it. “The Triveneto area must avoid brain drain and attract new talents”, he said: “We have our cards to play: not only the landscape, but also the quality of our lifestyle, a world-class healthcare system, universities and an extraordinary business system”.
Massimo Malvestio addressed another crucial point which he defined “impressive” during the interview: how local banks have gradually disappeared in Northeast Italy. “The Triveneto area no longer exists from a banking point of view, apart from Cassa Centrale in Trento and apart from the province of Bolzano”, he explained. He also added that “savings banks, cooperative banks and cooperative credit banks – even those existing through parent companies – have been deprived of their typical features by legislation”. In this context, “the big ones incorporate the small ones”. As he emphasized, the issue is that the Triveneto area has undergone this “without proposing any alternative”. “This is how we become suburbs”, Massimo Malvestio concluded.