The 32nd ASSIOM FOREX Congress represented an important opportunity for the Italian financial community to reflect on the future of the global economy and financial markets. The focus was on technological innovation and the challenges of the digital transformation for banks and businesses, infrastructure and energy production.
Massimo Mocio
Deputy Chief of IMI CIB Division, Intesa Sanpaolo; ASSIOM FOREX Chairman
The main financial markets recorded robust performances in 2025; 2026, on the other hand, is shaping up to be far more complicated.
The context is characterised by wide availability of liquidity and overall favourable financial conditions for households and businesses. Despite persistent geopolitical tensions, markets have shown considerable resilience, and the global macroeconomic outlook remains positive.
(…) In the US, the technology sector is driving equity markets: valuations appear to be supported by solid profits and substantial cash flows;
(…) I believe that the credit sector will have to be monitored particularly closely in order to detect signs of a change in the scenario: not only because spreads are at their lowest levels but also, and above all because the structure of the private credit market has changed significantly in recent years, with Non-Banking Financial Institutions growing dominance in financing tech companies.
(…) In 2025, Italy achieved outstanding results in the sovereign debt and equity market, as well as in the banking sector.
(…) Foreign demand confirmed the strong appeal of Italian public debt: in the most recent placements, which were heavily oversubscribed, 85% of the securities were allocated to investors from over 40 countries.
(…) I believe much more in growth of the digital asset ecosystem based on increased interaction between ‘private systems’ and those based on central bank money.
(…) In Europe, as we know, the approach has so far been public, but conditions may soon emerge that pave the way for the development of an integrated digital financial system, based on the interaction between banking infrastructures, digital currencies and new technologies based on distributed ledgers.
(…) Last year, we highlighted ‘American exceptionalism’, as well as a sort of ‘European cosmic pessimism’. It is now increasingly evident that Europe is in a decisive phase of its economic and financial evolution, driven not only by geopolitical reasons.
We hope, as was the case during the most difficult moments of the past, Europe will regain a sense of unity and a shared vision.
In particular, focusing on our field, we should move along three fundamental axes. Specifically, the following are required: the mobilisation of European savings towards domestic assets; the creation of a true continental ‘safe asset’; the acceleration of digital transformation.
(…) European institutions, and Italian ones in particular, can no longer be seen as part of the problem, but rather part of the solution. As a matter of fact, they were never the problem, even when the markets pointed the finger at the excessive Non-Performing Loans. Nor are they today, despite criticism about the fact that they are generating “excessive” revenues.
In the moments of greatest difficulty, we were there – from the sovereign debt crisis of 2011 to the pandemic shock – it was the banking sector, especially in Italy, that ensured stability, supported public debt and financed the real economy.
Today we are once again called upon to play a similar role in what can be rightly described as an epochal phase of technological and economic transformation.
We must act swiftly and decisively, guided by a concrete and strategic vision.
The conference as an opportunity to gain practical insights on the markets and strategic outlooks, but also a unique chance to hear the annual speech by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, which this year focused on trade and finance in a fragmented world.
Cristiano Maffi
Head of Global Primary Markets & Solutions, IMI CIB Division, Intesa Sanpaolo
Today, at the 32nd ASSIOM FOREX Congress, the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, gave an overview of the macroeconomic and microeconomic factors of the international and domestic landscape and, for each element, in addition to the current picture, he also outlined the related risk factors. For example, he commented on how global GDP growth settled at 3.3% in 2025, a figure that was difficult to foresee in the middle of last year, given the geopolitical tensions that had emerged and still persist, threatening global growth.
The driving force behind this result has come mainly from technological investments in the United States, which is certainly a positive factor, but in itself poses a risk to the sustainability of this growth. Another element he commented was the performance of the financial markets, pointing out that, for about three years now, the financial markets have not only been functioning well, but also performing very well, with even the most risky assets reaching extremely high valuation levels.
This in itself is also a risk factor that could, in certain circumstances, trigger volatility that could lead to negative consequences. Worthy of mention was certainly the part in which he addressed the political component of the European institutions, essentially asking that all the effectiveness of extraordinary actions in times of emergency be translated into lasting and persistent solutions for the European Union. And this is a message full of positivity, the same positivity with which he concluded his speech by calling on international players to act according to principles of cooperation, respect for common rules and with an eye to the long term rather than the short term.
Over the course of the two days, we explored Europe’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the rest of the world, the potential of artificial intelligence, and the new frontier of digital assets.
Andrea Prampolini
Head of Financial Digital & Markets Tech, IMI CIB Division, Intesa Sanpaolo
The IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division of Intesa Sanpaolo plays a leading role at the ASSIOM FOREX Congress, which this year is being held in Venice.
The overarching theme of this edition is technological innovation, at the heart of the traditional Saturday roundtable, organised in collaboration with Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor.
Europe is called upon to integrate in order to achieve the scale needed to compete with the United States and China. But in an era of tight constraints on public spending, part of the required resources will have to come from mobilising the savings of European citizens, through the Savings and Investment Union.
The regulatory package proposed by the European Commission last December — the so-called Market Integration and Supervisory Package — points precisely in this direction: renewing the architecture of European financial markets, promoting the adoption of distributed ledger technology and the evolution of digital assets, with a view to progressing towards markets with instant liquidity and extended trading hours up to 24 hours a day.
Against this backdrop, the Eurosystem's Pontes and Appia projects — the wholesale version of the digital euro — represent a distinctive feature of the European approach.
As IMI CIB Division, we already took part in the exploratory phase in 2024, contributing to the issuance of the first digital bond on a public blockchain in Italy.
The other major theme of the Congress is artificial intelligence, which continues to stand out as a central driver of market dynamics, investment activity, and the outlook for entire sectors of the economy.
For us, the ASSIOM FOREX Congress is an unmissable appointment: a moment of dialogue among industry players who want to understand the full scope of the ongoing technological transformation and seize the opportunities that this market phase has to offer.
Anna Gatti
Member of the Board of Directors, Intesa Sanpaolo
Q: Let’s talk about artificial intelligence, which was the focus of the round-table discussion organised by Radiocor here today at Assiom Forex. You live in Silicon Valley and, in your experience, you’ve seen plenty of tech hype and plenty of bubbles burst. So, is artificial intelligence one of them?
A: I don’t think it’s a classic bubble like the ones we’ve seen in the past. Certainly, given the huge amount of investment in start-ups, it’s a new wave driven by new technologies.
From a technological revolution perspective, it is here to stay.
I like to compare this revolution to the widespread adoption of electricity. Did electricity eliminate many jobs? Yes, some jobs have changed, but many others have been created, so there will be a reset in terms of the skills and jobs available.
