was born in Milan (Italy) and graduated from Bocconi University and
the University of Pennsylvania (PhD in Economics).
In the 1980s and 1990s he held several positions in the Banca d’Italia, in the areas of
international economics, econometric modelling and monetary policy. In 1995 he was
appointed Director of the Monetary and Financial Sector of the Research Department.
In 1998 he moved to the ECB as Head of the General Economic Research Division and
Deputy Director General of Research. In that position he headed several Eurosystemwide
research initiatives, including the Monetary Transmission Network and the
Inflation Persistence Network.
In 2005 he was appointed Director for International Financial Affairs in Italy’s Ministry
of Economy and Finance. In that role he also acted as G20 Finance Deputy; Deputy
Governor for Italy in the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank;
President and chairman of the Board of SACE SpA. (Italy’s state-owned export-credit
insurance company); member of the Board of Directors of the European Investment
Bank; member of the Supervisory Board of MTS SpA (the screen-based bond market);
member of the Working Party 3 of OECD; member of the Bellagio group.
In 2008 he moved back to the ECB as Advisor to the Executive Board, then Director
General for Macro-Prudential Policy and Financial Stability. In this position he
coordinated the ECB negotiation and preparation for the banking union.
In March 2014 he joined the Supervisory Board of the ECB.
A Fellow of Bruegel (the Brussels think-tank), in his career Ignazio held teaching
positions at the University of Pennsylvania, Bocconi and LUISS (Rome). He published
books and articles published in top US and European academic refereed journals.
Ignazio and his wife Ester Faia have four children: Ferdinando, Vittoria, Sebastiano and
Giorgia.