Ignazio Visco

Visco was born in Naples on 21 November 1949. He obtained a summa cum laude degree in economics from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1971 with Federico Caffè as supervisor and continued his studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Economics Department), where he obtained an MA in 1974 and a PhD in Economics in 1981.

In 1972, Visco began his career at the Bank of Italy and in 1990 he was named head of the research department; from 1997 to 2002 he was chief economist of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and on 9 January 2007 he was named deputy director-general of the Bank of Italy (alongside Giovanni Carosio) and a member of its Direttorio (Board of Directors).

On 24 October 2011, Visco was named to succeed Mario Draghi as governor of the Bank of Italy by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

Starting from 1 January 2013, in accordance with Legislative Decree 95/12 (converted into law, with modifications, from Law no.135/2012), he also holds the position of chairman of the joint governing board of the Italian Insurance Supervisory Authority (IVASS).

On 28 January 2015, Visco was placed under investigation by the Prosecutor of Spoleto as part a probe into the special administration of Banca Popolare di Spoleto.

In September 2016, the case was definitively dropped by a judge, upholding the prosecutor's request.

During his time in office, Visco came under fire for failing to effectively tackle Italy's banking woes. In October 2017, the country's ruling centre-left Democratic Party submitted a motion in Parliament calling for new leadership at the Bank of Italy, casting doubt on Visco's chances of being reappointed to a second term. Following a proposal made by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and his cabinet to renominate Visco and the endorsement of the Bank of Italy's high council, President Sergio Mattarella signed a decree to reappoint Visco for a second six-year term.