Marco Onado, an Independent Voice in Finance

One of the most authoritative voices in Italy on the issues of financial and banking regulation, Marco Onado passed away last night at the age of 84. He was a professor, a columnist and a member of public authorities and boards of directors, able to combine the rigor of an economist with the civil commitment and clarity of a public outreach practitioner. This is why, even outside academia, his thinking has had a profound and lasting impact on Italian public debate. Funeral services will be held at 11am on Thursday 3 July at Chiesa di San Marco (Brera) in Milan.

At Bocconi — where he graduated in 1965 and where he was Assistant Professor of Banking until 1969 — Marco Onado was Senior Professor from 2001 to 2022, teaching courses in economics and law of markets and financial intermediaries. Previously, he was Full Professor of Economics of Financial Intermediaries from 1972 to 2001 at the Universities of Modena and Bologna, and Visiting Professor at the University College of North Wales and Brown University.

His institutional positions included his appointment as CONSOB Commissioner from October 1993 to October 1998. He was also a member of numerous government commissions, including the Draghi Commission for the preparation of the Consolidated Law on Securities. In addition, he was a member of the Scientific Committee at Prometeia (Association for Econometric Research, Bologna) and the steering committees for the journals Banca Impresa e Società and Mercato Concorrenza Regole.

For many years, Onado worked as a columnist for both Il Sole 24 Ore and Il Fatto Quotidiano. His articles were always timely, independent and clear, often critical of the structural weaknesses of the Italian financial system, but always with a constructive approach. He was a member of the Editorial Board of lavoce.info and a contributor to voxeu.org, as well as a trustee of the IFRS Foundation in London.