Italy is a parliamentary republic in Southern Europe and a founding member of the European Union. In 1999 Italy adopted Euro as its official currency.
After World War II, Italy rapidly transformed from an agriculture based economy into one of the world's most industrialised nations. Machinery, textiles (including closing), industrial design, furniture production, agri-alimentary are important sectors of Italian economy that contribute significantly to the country’s export. Tourism is also one of Italy's most significant economic sectors accounting for about 4% of Italy’s GDP. However, Italy has several problems which slow down the economic growth, including organized crime, corruption, and economic disbalance between southern and northern Italy.
Italy signed 103 double taxation agreements.
Italy signed the automatic information exchange agreement on 29 October 2014 and committed to start the automatic information exchange in September 2017.
Italy has FATCA agreement with the U.S. in effect since 10 January 2014 (Intergovernmental Agreement Model 1).
A business model of Italian banking is focused on loans intermediation and other retail services and very limited exposure to market risk. This traditional banking approach has helped the Italian banks in supporting domestic activities. Italian banking landscape is dominated by domestic banks, operating as universal banks - either regionally or nationwide.
