Newsletter - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
Newsletter
News of the week:
Watch for scams! Financial fraud: Consob blacks out 7 more abusive websites
Investor protection warnings from other regulatory authorities
Save The Date: 25 June 2024 Consob's annual meeting with the financial market at Borsa Italiana
The Financial Market Authorities of Italy, Spain, France and Austria list their key priorities for a macro prudential approach to asset management
Save The Date: 18 April 2024 Alternative Financial Dispute Resolution Scheme: Report on the Activity for 2023
Save The Date: 9 May 2024 The tokenisation of financial instruments – Outlook for the Italian market
Save The Date: 16 May 2024 Consob sanctions 10 years after the Grande Stevens ruling
EU Data Hub financial sector: Call for proposals from the European Commission
Global Money Week: 176 countries worldwide, 300 financial education initiatives in Italy recognised by the Edufin Committee, with secondary schools playing a leading role
Consob PCTO 2023-2024: works by students and winning projects
Consob Assignments of office
Commission decisions taken during the week
Consob has ordered the black-out of 7 new websites that offer financial services illegally.
The Authority availed itself of the powers deriving from the "Decreto Crescita" (Growth Decree - Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) regarding the blackout of the websites of abusive financial intermediaries, as well as the power introduced by Law no. 8 of 28 February 2020, Article 4, paragraph 3-bis, regarding the blackout of the website through which the abusive offer is made.
Below are the sites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- "GMT" (websiteswww.gmtdirect.com, www.gmtplatform.com, www.gmtcapitals.com and their pages https://client.gmtdirect.com,https://client.gmtplatform.com);
- "Capitalpartners24" (website https://capitalpartners24.com);
- "Fp Invest" (websitewww.fpinvest247.io);
- "Smart Limited Group" (websiteshttps://smart-limited-group.com and their page https://cfd.smart-limited-group.com);
- "Stockcptls" (website https://stockcptls.com).
The number of sites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob was given the power to order the black-out of websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries, has thus risen to 1060.
The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on the website www.consob.it.
The black-out of these websites by internet service providers operating on Italian territory is ongoing. For technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect.
Consob draws investors' attention to the importance of adopting the greatest diligence in order to make informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviours, essential to safeguard one's savings: these include, for websites that offer financial services, checking in advance that the operator with whom you are investing is authorised, and, for offers of financial products, that a prospectus has been published.
Please note, there is a section on the homepage of the www.consob.it website, entitled "Watch for Scams!", which provides useful information warning investors about fraudulent financial schemes.
The Greek Supervisory Authority Hellenic Capital Market Commission ("HCMC") has announced that it has temporarily suspended, for a period of 45 days, the authorisation for Capital Securities S.A. to operate as an investment firm
Up-to-date information can be found at the following link: http://www.hcmc.gr/en_US/web/portal/home.
On Tuesday 25 June 2024, in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic, Consob's annual meeting with the financial market will take place.
The event, which will take place at the headquarters of Palazzo Mezzanotte, in Piazza Affari in Milan, will officially kick off the celebrations for Consob's 50th anniversary and can be followed from 11:00 via live streaming on the website www.consob.it.
The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB - Italy), the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV - Spain), the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF - France) and the Finanzmarktaufsicht (FMA - Austria) today publish their key priorities as part of the debate on the macro prudential approach to asset management and in view of the European Commission's forthcoming consultation on this topic.
In recent years, risks arising from Non-Bank Financial Intermediation (NBFI) have been the focus of global regulators' attention, especially as their relative share in the global financial system has increased. Concerns have also been raised about the potential negative effects on the real economy of shocks spread through or generated by Non-Bank Financial Intermediation.
These debates are important and legitimate.
The specific characteristics of asset managers need to be taken into account when developing the regulations necessary to address their risks. The ecosystem of asset management is different from that of banks and equally diverse, as are the vulnerabilities highlighted so far. Therefore, the nature of the risks that regulators aim to address must be precisely defined: regulators should focus as a priority on the characteristics of asset management that generate excessive price volatility and liquidity stress. Capital requirements and liquidity buffers are not the most appropriate solutions to mitigate these risks in terms of financial stability.
Based on these considerations and with regard to the asset management sector, the authorities of Italy, Spain, France and Austria have identified five priorities. The first three relate to short- and medium-term measures, while the others should be pursued in the long term:
- ensure widespread availability and increased use of Liquidity Management Tools (LMTs) in all types of Open-Ended Funds (OEFs): the recent revision of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ( AIFMD) will significantly advance the adoption of LMTs, although Level 2 measures are still under development;
- banning the amortised cost accounting of Money Market Funds (MMFs): amortised cost accounting is inherently detrimental to financial stability, amounts to misrepresentation to investors, making them believe that they enjoy a stable Net Asset Value (NAV), and incentivises first movers;
- systematic stress tests should also be envisaged to better understand the vulnerabilities of each asset management group and its interconnections with other participants in the financial system;
- introduce a truly consolidated supervisory approach for large cross-border asset management groups: as their teams and funds are currently supervised by different national competition authorities in different countries, the creation of a supervisory college for these groups would bring significant benefits both in times of stress and in normal market conditions;
- create an integrated data hub, shared by market supervisors and central banks, which meets the reciprocal needs, both in terms of day-to-day supervision and stress-testing exercises.
On Thursday 18 April 2024, at 11:00, at the Consob Auditorium in Rome, Via Claudio Monteverdi, 35, the Report on the Activity of the Alternative Financial Dispute Resolution Scheme for 2023 will be presented.
Registration of participants will take place from 10:00. Participation is open to everyone, although attendees are asked to register online at: https://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/iscrizione-seminari.
The event is free of charge. The procedure for accreditation with the Bar Association of Rome is underway.
On Thursday 9 May 2024, from 14:15 to 17:30, at the Auditorium in Rome (Via C. Monteverdi 35), Consob will hold a seminar entitled "The tokenisation of financial instruments – Outlook for the Italian market".
The event will be opened by Piero Cipollone, member of the Executive Committee of the European Central Bank, and closed by Paolo Savona, Chair of Consob.
Participation is open to everyone, although attendees are asked to register online at: http://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/iscrizione-seminari.
The full programme for the event is available at the following link.
On Thursday 16 May 2024, at 11:00, the University of Siena and Finmads (Financial Markets and Administrative Sanctions in the EU) will hold the seminar co-financed by the European Union "Consob sanctions 10 years after the Grande Stevens ruling".
The seminar will be opened by the welcome address of: Roberto Di Pietra (Rector - University of Siena), Mario Perini (Director of the Department of Law - University of Siena), Ciro Corvese (Director of the Department of Business and Law - University of Siena) and Mario Siragusa (President of AIGE).
An introductory speech by Paulo Sérgio Pinto de Albuquerque (Catholic University of Lisbon) will follow.
The seminar will be divided into three sections:
Session I at 11:30, chaired by Elena Bindi (University of Siena): "Consob sanctions: proceedings and trial", divided into the following interventions:
- Sanctions in European case law", Andrea Saccucci (University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli);
- The problems relating to the proceedings", Gianluca Romagnoli (University of Padua);
- The problems relating to opposition proceedings", Francesco Goisis (University of Milan).
Session II at 14:30, chaired by Andrea Pisaneschi (University of Siena): "Sanctioning profiles and application perspectives", divided into the following interventions:
- Ne bis in idem and sanctions", Eva Desana (University of Turin);
- The supranational issues relating to Article 187-terdecies", Marco Scoletta (University of Milan);
- The application problems relating to Article 187-terdecies": Francesco Mucciarelli (Luigi Bocconi University).
Session III at 16:00, chaired by Marcello Clarich (University of Rome La Sapienza): "The Capital Law (Law no. 21 of 5 March 2024) and the new system of agreements", divided into the following interventions:
- Changes to Consob's sanctioning powers introduced by the Capital Law: the expected repercussions", Simone Alvaro (Head of the Consob Administrative Sanctions Office);
- The regulation of ‘commitments' and ‘transactions' in antitrust sanctioning procedures", Margherita Ramajoli (University of Milan);
- The system of ‘commitments' in the Consob sanctioning proceedings: practical profiles and open issues", Paolo Luccarelli (Galante e Associati Studio Legale).
Marco Ventoruzzo (Luigi Bocconi University) will conclude the proceedings.
Link for registration: https://forms.gle/Rqv1H6A8Qth81WKg7. Live streaming on DIPEC's YouTube channel (@dipec1616).
The European Commission has launched a Call for Proposals to obtain indications from financial companies in the European Union on the types of data held by supervisory authorities that could be useful for developing innovative products and services, testing new applications and training artificial intelligence models, while ensuring the confidentiality and security of information through the use of synthetic data.
The information gathered will be used to evaluate additional data sets to be made available on the Data Hub, the space set up by the European Commission as part of the EU Digital Finance Platform for development and experimentation purposes.
The window for contributing to the Call for Proposals will be open until 26 April 2024, 12:00 (CEST).
Further information is available on the dedicated web page.
The 24th of March marked the end of the twelfth edition of Global Money Week, the awareness-raising campaign dedicated to young people, promoted by the OECD and coordinated in Italy by the Committee for the Planning and Coordination of Financial Education Activities (Edufin Committee).
Members of the Committee for the Planning and Coordination of Financial Education Activities are the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the Bank of Italy, Consob, Covip, Ivass, OCF, and the National Council of Consumers and Users.
Between 18 and 24 March, in Italy, public and private institutions, associations, universities, schools and research organizations involved young people in nearly 300 financial education initiatives collected in the event's official calendar. These initiatives discussed money, payment instruments, savings, financial planning, investments, insurance and, in a future perspective, retirement and sustainability; special attention was paid to online payments, cybersecurity and fraud and scams on the web, in line with the theme of this edition of the event "Protect your money, secure your future."
Global Money Week 2024 was also actively supported by the Ministry of Education and Merit, which invited Italy's schools and Italian schools abroad to join the initiatives dedicated to them. For the youngest children, educational workshops were held in the classroom, such as those dedicated to developing stories or managing the budget of an imaginary friend, so as to bring girls and boys closer to the issues of financial planning.
Educational workshops, quizzes, and lessons were held for secondary school students, and webinars and seminars were held for university students and young adults; online materials such as video tutorials, video bites, and Podcasts were disseminated to all, which were always accessible. Some schools also came up with initiatives which were implemented independently within the Commission.
The participation of schools in this event is a sign of how much the topics of economics and finance trigger the interest of teachers and students. A good sign, also in light of the new legislation of 5th March of this year, which introduced the teaching of financial education in schools in Italy
The selection of the winning projects marked the end of the PCTO cycle (formerly the School-Work Alternation Pathway) organised by Consob for the 2023-24 school year, divided into two separate one-week modules, held from 22 to 26 January (online) and from 12 to 16 February 2024 (in- person), with the participation of secondary schools from all over Italy and all teaching courses.
The first of the two modules, online, was attended by about 250 students from 8 institutes, who logged on from all over Italy, with the awarding of one of the projects presented by the "Mario Pagano" Classical High School of Campobasso. The second module, carried out in-person at the Consob auditorium in Rome, was subsequently attended by about 220 students from 6 institutes of the capital city, with the awarding of works by the "Giulio Cesare" State Classical High School in Rome.
The Consob jury, in charge of evaluating the best works presented, has evaluated a large number of individual and group projects, which describe the different skills and strategies that – in an increasingly virtual financial market - pit an individual that influences the offer of financial products and services (so-called finInfluencer) against an investor/saver who intends to reduce the possibility of scams or economic losses, thanks to the knowledge of the rules and risks, when adhering to financial offers (so-called finConsumer).
The developed outlines describe in simple and accessible language the dynamics and realities underlying the supply and demand of financial products.
We congratulate the winners and all the actively participating students, responsible for high quality works, useful for the dissemination of the tools and notions of financial education in secondary schools and the cultural preparation of students intending to continue their studies in the economic field.
The Commission, as a result of the vacancy procedure referred to in Article 68, Part I, of the Staff Regulations, has assigned, starting from 10 April 2024, Antonio Russo the office of Head of the Spot and Derivatives Markets Operations Supervision Office, coordinated within the Markets Division of Consob (resolution no. 23060 of 10 April 2024).
Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, letter b) of Italian Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) to cease infringement of Article 18 of said Consolidated Law on Finance, put in place by:
- "GMT" via the websites www.gmtdirect.com, www.gmtplatform.com and www.gmtcapitals.com and their pages https://client.gmtdirect.com and https://client.gmtplatform.com (resolution no. 23064 of 10 April 2024);
- "Capitalpartners24" via the website https://capitalpartners24.com (resolution no. 23063 of 10 April 2024);
- "Fp Invest" via the website www.fpinvest247.io (resolution no. 23066 of 10 April 2024);
- "Smart Limited Group" via the website https://smart-limited-group.com and its page https://cfd.smart-limited-group.com (resolution no. 23065 of 10 April 2024);
- "Stockcptls" via the website https://stockcptls.com (resolution no. 23062 of 10 April 2024).