Credit Development, Quality Deterioration and Intermediation Model: Does Bank Size Matter? Evidence from Italy between 2006 and 2010

In Italy, the effects of the global financial crisis started in 2007 caused both a significant downturn in the trend in loans to customers and a serious deterioration in the quality of credit exposures. Although widespread, this phenomenon took on different characteristics according to bank size; during the worst phase of the crisis, loans provided by larger banks grew significantly less than did those provided by smaller banks. In contrast, the deterioration in credit exposures mainly affected small and minor banks.