(ANSA) - ROME, MARCH 06 - "In Italy, more than in other European countries, there are tools to meet the needs of debtors in potential difficult situations" This was stated by ABI general manager Giovanni Sabatini regarding the appeal of the president of the ECB Lagarde to banks and issue measures to mitigate the impact of mortgage rates.
"In the current contingencies - adds Sabatini - it would be necessary to reintroduce regulatory flexibility to avoid pro-cyclical effects, in particular as regards the binding and excessively rigid rules of the European Banking Authority (EBA) on onerous restructuring matters".
"We hope that the European Central Bank shares what Governor Visco has recently indicated when he recalled that it is necessary to balance the two risks that monetary policy can run, do too little or do too much and that today the two risks are symmetrical".
adds Sabatini regarding the possible new rate hikes by the ECB.
"In the current circumstances, a "cautious approach" based on a careful analysis of the data and not too much on theoretical models is needed which in the current circumstances, strongly dependent on exogenous factors, could prove to be inconsistent or even counterproductive".
(HANDLE).