Bad loan closure times in Italy

We propose a procedure for calculating closure times for bad business loans in Italy using Central Credit Register data over the period 2005-2016. We find that after 2008 bad loan closure times increased, peaking in the years 2011-12; they then began to fall, returning close to their initial levels in 2016. These results suggest that the recent initiatives improving banks’ non-performing loan management policies and the effectiveness and speed of recovery procedures are starting to bear fruit.