The rule of flaw

ATLAS could hold up the sky. Atlante, Italy’s bank-rescue fund, looks like a weakling. The fund, which raised €4.25 billion ($4.9 billion) last month, almost half of it from Italy’s two largest banks, has two purposes. One is to act as an emergency investor in banks starved of funds; the other is to kick-start a market in dud loans clogging up banks’ balance-sheets. On both counts, the fund has not done enough to calm nerves. Italy should have acted sooner to sort out its banks. But Europe’s approach to financial crises is also to blame.