Italy

Italian bank Capitalia has launched a new EUR2bn programme aimed at supporting growth, innovation and internationalisation of small- and medium-sized enterprises

Alessandro Castellano, the managing director of Italy's export credit insurance company SACE SpA, said exports should rise firmly in the next five years

Coface, the credit insurance and corporate analysis unit of Natixis, said it has agreed to buy a 15% stake in the country's leading business information company

The board of directors of MPS Leasing Factoring made the decision on Friday

Calisto Tanzi, the former head of Parmalat, will have to answer questions about defrauding a Bolognaise factoring company of euros 7.5m.

Factoring makes up over one in ten of every short-term finance products sold by Italian banks, according to Corrado Faissola, head of the Italian Banking Association (ABI).

The factoring unit of Banca Italease, the asset finance group, achieved a turnover of euro 7.6bn for the six months to June 30 2006, nearly a third

MPS Leasing Factoring can boast one of the best performances within the Monte dei Paschi di Siena group and keeps extending its influence in the leasing and factoring market

The Banca Popolare di Novara e Unionfidi Piemonte (BNP) has signed an agreement for a role with SACE

 In a presentation of Banca Lombarda's 2006-2008 business plan, Faissola said loans made by the group's