In this article we will analyze the Italian case in some detail to give tentative answers to the following questions: (1) Can the success of Italian banks be traced back to the privati- zation of the savings banks? (2) What impact did the privatization have on (a) the provi- sion of banking services to the population, (b) the provision of loans to SMEs, and (c) the intensity of competition in the banking sector? (3) In what respects is the Italian case com- parable to the German one? A short case study of a particularly successful Italian bank, UniCredit, will supplement the aggregate analysis. Finally, we will.
