The reform of the ownership structure of public banks was only one part of a much broad- er set of reforms. Since the 1980s, several provisions of the Italian financial law have changed substantially. One important trigger was the legislation of the European Commu- nity, in particular, the First Banking Directive in 1977 and the Second Banking Directive in 1989. The new Consolidated Law on Banking of 1993 finally replaced the legislation of 1936. In this process, most restrictions introduced in the 1930s were removed. The limits to the regional expansion of saving banks, the portfolio requirement to hold government bonds, and the ceiling on credit to.
