Bank of Italy said to be widening Italian lenders audit

MILAN: The Bank of Italy looks set to widen an audit of Italian lenders to include their performing loan books, the director general of regional bank Credito Emiliano said on Monday.

"As far as I am aware, a targeted inspection of good loans is about to start," Adolfo Bizzocchi told analysts on a conference call.

The central bank has already carried out simultaneous, month-long audits of around 20 Italian banks and told several of them to increase their loan loss provisions.

A new audit of performing loans may mean the central bank also wants to check whether these are properly classified.