The internal audit function in banks

The result of these reforms was a decline in the share of banking assets in the hands of public entities and foundations from 68 percent in 1992 to 9 percent in 2003. Table 1 sug- gests that the majority of the privatization took place before the Ciampi Law of 1998. However, the numbers given in that table are likely to understate actual government own- ership because they do not include banks where several foundations jointly hold more than 50 percent of the capital, and even a share below 50 percent may yield significant possibil- ities of control. In this respect, it is instructive to look...