Article by Franco Carlo Papa (Chairman of PGS Consulenti) and Luca Sala (Partner of PGS Consulenti) on the issue of bank lending, which until the start of the crisis tended to focus on returns and which now, following the company reorganisations of the last five years, tends to prioritise protection of credit through support for business continuity. It is therefore expected that in the future the banks will adopt a different view on lending, based more closely on actual company dynamics, also with a view to reducing the sort of asymmetries between the banks and companies that all too often feature in procedures for company crisis resolution.