This book illustrates the importance of bonds as a funding tool available to banks. After providing the reader with an overview of the funding strategies adopted during the last ten years by European banks, the book offers a deep focus on the Italian banking industry. Notably, the authors illustrate how bonds have been a primary funding choice for Italian banks, as well as a preponderant asset in Italian households portfolios. Furthermore, they highlight the consequences of the adoption of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) on the yields offered by bonds of Italian banks. Finally, they conclude the volume with the illustration of very recent case studies about the application of the BRRD to some problematic banks in Italy and the related side effects generated to bank bondholders. All the analyses presented in the book are supported by the use of quantitative data.

Fabrizio Crespi is a Researcher at the University of Cagliari and a Contract Professor at ALTIS (the Postgraduate School Business& Society of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan). After completing a PhD in The economics of institutions and business systems, he has focused his academic career on financial innovation. His main research concerns asset-backed securitization, asset management products, asset allocation and financial planning, and innovative portfolio strategies.

Danilo V. Mascia is a Research Fellow at the University of Cagliari (Italy) and a former Visiting Academic Research Fellow at Leeds University Business School (UK). After gaining his BSc and MSc in Economics in Sardinia, he moved to the University of Amsterdam, where he was awarded the title of MSc in Business Economics. He later received his PhD in Business Economics from the University of Cagliari, together with the title ofDoctor Europaeus. His research interests are in the areas of banking, regulation, and financing of small and medium firms.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The bank funding strategies of European banks: a comparison.- Chapter 3: The funding of Italian banks: instruments and changes over time.- Chapter 4: Different types of bonds issued by Italian banks.- Chapter 5: The bail-in effect: how the cost of funding has changed after the introduction of the BRRD.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.