Statistical Bulletin no. 20 - June 2022
 

Listed companies and financial intermediation in 2021

In 2021 the capitalization of Italian companies with shares admitted to trading on Italian regulated markets and multilateral trading systems (hereinafter referred to as "Italian listed companies") increased by 20.3%. This was due to the arise of market prices (the Ftse All Share Italia index recorded a rise of 23.7% in 2021); the ratio between capitalization and GDP changed from 29.3% at the end of 2020 to 33.2% at the end of 2021. The number of Italian listed companies increased from 382 to 487, due to the new listing on the AIM (+34) and the delisting on the MTA (-8) and on the Hi-MTF (-1).
Italian industrial companies listed on the MTA and on the AIM recorded profits of approximately 13.2 billion euro and 221 million euro respectively, against a profit of approximately 9.9 billion euros and 79.5 million euros in the previous year. This is the result of an increasing revenue goods and services (+90.5 billion euros) and other non-operating income (+4.1 billion euros) respect to cost of operating revenue (+76.1 billion euros) and income taxes (+12.8 billion euros). In 2021 net assets of Italian industrial companies listed on the MTA and on the AIM was approximately 231.7 billion euros (+2% compared to 2020) and 3178 million euros (+17.1% compared to 2020) respectively.
Insurance companies listed on MTA recorded an increase in net income (5.7 billion euros compared to 4.2 billion euros in the previous year) because of a higher rise in revenues of business activities (+18.6 billion euros) respect to operating expenses (+17.4 billion euros). In 2021 net assets of insurance companies listed on MTA slightly increased to 56.5 billion euros (+2% compared to 2020).
Banks listed on MTA recorded a huge increase in net profit (9.2 billion euros compared to 0.4 billion in the previous year). This is attributable to the higher profitability of business activities: +3.2 billion euros in net commission and fees compared to 2020; -4.7 billion euros in operating expenses and -1.5 billion euros in tangible and intangible fixed assets impairment compared to 2020. In 2021 net assets of banks listed on MTA rose to 177.7 billion euros (+1% compared to 2020).
Other financial companies listed on MTA recorded a growth in net income (1,8 billion euros compared to 1.1 billion euros in the previous year) thanks to increasing revenues from business activities (10.2 billion euros of 2021 respect to 6.2 billion euros of 2020). Also, net assets climbed sharply at 20.6 billion euros from 9 billion of previous year.
The trading volume of shares of Italian listed companies on regulated markets and multilateral trading facilities based in Italy and abroad decreased by 4.9% compared to 2020. The fails volume of Italian listed shares traded on MTA was 4.3% of total turnover on MTA (4% at the end of 2020) The notional turnover in equity derivatives decreased by 7.8%, involving all types of instruments except future stock and index stock. At the end of 2021, the notional turnover of open positions on equity derivatives was 18.2% upper than the corresponding figure at the end of 2020. The notional turnover of covered warrants on commodity recorded a decrement of 36.8% and there were no trades on Italian electricity future. At the end of 2021, there were no open positions on Italian electricity futures.
In 2021, the net short positions on Italian listed shares fell by 13.8%. At the end of 2021, net short positions on Italian listed shares were equal to 0.6% of the total capitalization (0.8% at the end of 2020); for companies in the financial sector, this figure was equal to 0.3% of the sector capitalization (0.6% at the end of 2020).
At the end of 2021, the margins established by the members of the central counterparty system related to Italian regulated markets were 27.4% upper than the value recorded at the end of 2020. During 2021, the trading volume of Italian government securities on Italian trading platforms increased by 80%, mainly due to the increase in trades on MTS (+113%). Instead, there was a decrease in turnover of Italian bonds other than government securities (-34.1%) due to a decrease in exchanges on all Italian trading platforms. Moreover, there was a fall in the trading volume of ETFs and securitized derivative financial instruments (ETCs/ETNs) (-8.3%), attributable to the decrease on exchange traded facilities (-6.6%).
Bond issues by Italian banks in 2021 recorded a reduction compared to 2020, both on the domestic market (-3.2%) and private offers to institutional investors (-51.3%).

At the end of 2021, the value of financial instruments held with Italian intermediaries for the provision of investment and asset management services increased by 11.2% compared to the figure at the end of 2020. In the portfolio, the weight of equity stocks increased to the detriment of bond. The volumes of activity relating to the provision of investment services increased overall in 2021, placement of financial instruments (+12.2%), trading on own account (-12.9%), order execution (-6.9%), receipt and transmission of orders (+8.1%). Gross premiums deriving from the placement of insurance products with a prevalent financial content distributed in Italy by Italian intermediaries recorded a decrease (-26%), due to the decrease in premiums relating to the distribution of unit linked policies (-23.8%).
At the end of 2021, the assets managed by Italian intermediaries decreased compared to the end of 2020 (-1.3%) mainly linked to portfolio management contracts (-4.1%) which represent over 69.5% of the net assets. In particular, the assets of open-end and closed end grew respectively by 11.1% and 13.6%, while that of foreign open end UCIs placed in Italy that relating to pension funds and other pension forms set up in Italy by companies other than insurance companies fell respectively by 3.8% and 37.3%.
In 2021, net inflows from Italian open-end UCITS were positive for € 6.6 billion, mainly for balanced funds (+€ 9.1 billion), while the growth in equity and bond type fund has almost compensated the repayments of flexible funds.
The Italian asset management companies accounting data at the end of 2021 registered an increase in the overall net profit generated compared to 2020 (+51.9%), mainly due to the growth in net commissions (+27.8%) that has more than compensated the increase of operating costs (+10.4%). The growth in the net profit of Italian investment companies was more pronounced (+69.2%) due to the increase intermediation margin (+20.9%) that offset the increase in administrative costs (+10%)

The Report was prepared by:
Gaetano N. Finiguerra (supervisor) - CONSOB, Head of Statistics Office, Research Department (g.finiguerra@consob.it)
Emilio Ciccone - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (e.ciccone@consob.it)
Simona Di Rocco - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (s.dirocco@consob.it)
Francesco Scalese - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (f.scalese@consob.it)
Fabrizio Figoni - CONSOB, Statistics Office, Research Department (f.figoni@consob.it)

Thanks to Renato Grasso (r.grasso@consob.it) and Lucia Pierantoni for her collaboration (l.pierantoni@consob.it)
Editorial secretary: Andrea Cianciullo

For information and clarifications write to: Ufficio.Statistiche@consob.it