Bank of Italy vigilant on impact of banking consolidation on corporate credit

MILAN, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Bank of Italy has so far found no evidence that ongoing consolidation among domestic banks has translated into tighter credit for businesses, Governor Fabio Panetta said, adding that the central bank will continue to look at the matter.

Speaking at an economics forum in Turin on Thursday, Panetta said cross-border competition among banking systems made it necessary for Italian banks to try to become bigger.

However, given that Italian companies are generally small, the Bank of Italy has been investigating whether an increase in the size of banks, coupled with the branch closures that typically follow merger deals, hindered credit access for firms.

"We'll continue with our analyses because this is an extremely important aspect," he said.