Borsa Italiana, the Italian stock exchange, has tightened its listing requirements for the Nuovo Mercato, its growth segment, and has introduced stricter corporate governance rules, to try to boost tranparency and liquidity.

The moves follow a dire year for the Italian market. There were only five initial public offerings this year, and shares in three of those firms are now trading below issue price. There were no IPOs at all on the Nuovo Mercato, compared to €3.8bn ($3.9bn) raised from 30 IPOs in 2000. Its market cap fell from €25bn in 2000 to just €8bn by the end of 2002, and the market's index has fallen by more than 70% over the same period.