Fuelled by continued macro-economic uncertainty, the European CMBS market is currently experiencing a prolonged period of malaise. Meanwhile the Italian legislative cogs have continued to turn. The news last week that the Italian government has finally approved a decree on NPL securitisations, which comes hot off the heels of the proposals to establish a private sector bail-out for banks and the promise of insolvency law reform, once again demonstrates that Italy is the jurisdiction to watch in 2016.

In my view Italy has the potential to play an integral role in not only kick-starting, but revolutionising the European CMBS market – a topic that I explore in greater detail in this week’s edition of Financial News (Leading a renaissance? It’s just what Italians do).

Therefore, as we continue to canter through 2016, I for one, will be watching and waiting to see if Italy begins to deliver on this latent potential…