
Separate financial statements at 31 December 2021 | BANCA FINNAT EURAMERICA
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eurozone, production prices have undergone annual increases that have almost reached 24% (from annual increases
limited to 0.4% at the beginning of the year), with consumer prices increasing annually by 5% (from 0.9% at the
beginning of the year) while in Germany import prices are experiencing annual increases of close to 25%, with
production prices growing annually by close to 20% (from growth rates of 0.9% in January 2021) and consumer prices
increasing by 5.3% from 1% increases at the beginning of the year. In Italy, at the end of 2021, production prices
recorded annual growth rates of 27% (from decreases of 0.4% per year again in January 2021), with consumer prices
increasing by almost 4% (from tend rates of 0.4% at the beginning of 2021) and an energy component that is increasing
annually by about 30%. These inflationary pressures, unexpected in their magnitude and apparently more structural and
potentially longer lasting than hoped for by the Central Banks, which for a long time thought these pressures to be
transient, led the Central Banks themselves, in December, to amend in a more restrictive sense their monetary policy
approaches (for some time characterised by zero reference rates). The Bank of England brought policy rates to 0.25 from
0.10; the Federal Reserve decided to suspend its Quantitative Easing program in March 2022, with the intention, already
communicated to the market, of proceeding with at least three rises in official rates during 2022 and another three in
2023; while maintaining for the moment the reference rate at zero, the marginal loan rate at 0.25% and the deposit
rate negative by 0.5%, the European Central Bank decided to conclude the pandemic purchase program (Pandemic
Emergency Purchase Program) in March 2022, while the purchases of securities under the “ordinary” APP (Asset
Purchase Program) are anticipated to end on the eve of the first rate rise that presumably could occur during the first
half of 2023. Reinvestments in maturing securities, on the other hand, will continue until December 2024 for the PEPP
program and until after the first rate increase (presumably during the first half of 2023) for the APP program. At the end
of the second year of Covid-19, 6 million deaths were recorded and 160 million people fell into absolute poverty. The
pandemic has been a tremendous test bed for the prevailing economic setting that sees the market as the only beacon
for creating opportunities. Thankfully, it was understood that the crisis could not be averted without state intervention
and, in the United States and Europe, public aid has buffered the damage, at least from an economic point of view.
Where public aid was not possible, or it was chosen not to activate it, consequences have been disastrous in terms of
increased inequality.
Financial markets
In this context of strong economic recovery, equity markets offered extremely positive returns, with the MSCI World
Index growing by 22.4%. The American markets allowed capital gains of 18.7% on average for investments on the Dow
Jones index, 26.9% on the S&P 500 index and 21.4% on the Nasdaq technology index. In the eurozone, the Paris stock
exchange (CAC 40 index) grew by 28.1%, prices on the German stock market (DAX) increased, on average, by 15.8%
while the Madrid stock exchange (Ibex 35) offered a limited return of 6.9%. The index representing the largest
capitalisations in the eurozone (Eurostoxx 50) grew by 21% and the best sectors, during the year, were banking
(+36.2%), technology (+37.8%), the media sector (+30.4%) and the automotive sector (+25.1%). In terms of individual
stocks, the best performances within the Eurostoxx 50 index were achieved by ASML Holding (+77.8%) and Hermes
International (+74.6%) while the worst performances were offered by Philips (-25.2%) and Prosus (-16.8%). Outside
the euro area, the UK stock exchange (FTSE 100) offered a return of 14.3% while the Zurich stock exchange grew by
20.3%. In the Asian area, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index offered a limited return of 4.9% while the Chinese markets
were negative with the Hong Kong Hang Seng index down 14.1% and the Shanghai index/Shenzhen CSI 300 down by
5.2% on the year. With regard to the Italian market, the FTSE MIB index grew by 23%, the index relating to the STAR
segment by 44.7%, while the Italia Growth index (formerly AIM) recorded an increase of 57.7%. The best sectors were
banking (+36%) and insurance (+30.6%) while utilities suffered (-6.7%). During 2021, 49 IPOs were carried out on our
domestic market (22 in 2020), 5 on the main MTA market and 44 on the Euronext Growth Milan market, which brought
the total number of listed companies to 407 (174 listed on the EGM) for a capitalisation of 757 billion (11.5 billion for
the capitalisation of the EGM market), equal to 43% of the Italian GDP and equal to 11% of the capitalisation of the
entire Euronext market. Total capital raising on the Italian market amounted to 3.7 billion, of which 2.3 billion relating