Ship financing in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century

Abstract

This article traces the history of shipping and shipbuilding finance in Italy during the first half of the twentieth century, a period in which the Italian merchant fleet grew into one of the world’s largest, was mostly destroyed during the Second World War and then was rapidly reconstructed. This history is divided into four periods. Prior to the First World War the maritime sector lacked specialist sources of funding and relied on the country’s main banks, referred to here as ‘universal’ banks due to their engagement in both commercial and investment banking. During the war their monopoly was broken by the establishment of two bodies under the control of the Bank of Italy and the largest shipping company in the country, a situation which lasted until the late 1920s. After 1928, and throughout the 1930s, the banks were largely ousted from shipping finance by the State-controlled Istituto per il Credito Navale, created by Alberto Beneduce on the orders of Benito Mussolini. Finally, in 1940 this institution was dissolved and its functions taken over by the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano, which between 1945 and 1954 presided over a rapid reconstruction of the fleet. There is a rich literature on the construction and navigation bounties, mail subventions, subsidies of the main national and international lines, but little is known about ship financing in Italy in the first half of the twentieth century. This article aims to illuminate this important facet of Italian maritime industry.