文档介绍：8 Italian Banks’ Credit Approach Towards Low-
e Consumers and Microenterprises:
Is There a Bias Against Some Segments of
Customers?
Eliana Angelini11
Introduction
In Italy, the sensibility of banks for financial requirements of low-e
consumers and microenterprises appears still rather limited. Low-e
customers include salaried employees, farmers, pensioners, young people
with temporary occupation (atypical workers) or unemployed, housewives
and immigrants. Microenterprices, the smallest economic units that
operate in any economy, include the self-employed as well as family-run
enterprises. From corner grocery shops to tailors, they operate in just about
any sector of the economy. While the financial needs of these segments are
similar to those of other businesses and consumers, their personal and
business characteristics, as well as the relative size of their operations,
diverge significantly. Specifically, microentrepreneurs and other low-
e customers tend to operate on the margins of the formal economy
and society, often without requisite permits and documentation. The
microenterprises have few employees, other than the owner-operator. The
enterprises and households usually have limited assets, particularly lacking
fixed assets with formal titles that could serve as traditional collateral. Net
es are on the lower end of the scale although operating margins for
microenterprises in percentage terms can be significant. Formal records of
sales, expenses and es are scarce and unreliable. Business and
1 The author would like to thank Laura Nieri and Maria Debora Braga for the
precious suggestions and Paola Assetta for the collaboration to the collection of
data. Sole responsibility for the contents of this analysis rests with the author.
300 Eliana Angelini
household finances are mixed with e generated from diverse sources,
such as multiple enterprises, farming and agricultural production activities,
remitt