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Financial abusive services: Consob obscures 7 websites (Press release of May 22nd, 2020)
Published: 22/05/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Consob ordered the blackout of 7 new websites, offering abusive financial services.
The Authority availed itself of the powers resulting from the "Growth Decree" (Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
Here below the names of said companies and websites:
- "CruxINV" (websites https://cruxinv.com and https://client.crux24.com)
- Digital Exchange Limited and Securex Plus Solutions EOOD (website www.dgxltd.com)
- Maginito Services Ltd (website www.profitsystemfx.com)
- Kleinman Enterprise LTD and Kleinman Services OU (website https://wisefunds.co)
- FXLinked Ltd, FXLinked (SV) LTD, FXLinked (Europe) Ltd and FXLinked (Seychelles) (websites www.fxlinked.com and www.forexlinked.com)
Accordingly, it has risen to 211 the overall number of websites which have been obscured by Consob starting from July 2019, since the Authority was empowered to order the blackout of abusive financial intermediaries websites.
The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it.
The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective.
Consob warns all savers about the value of making use of their utmost diligence in order to make their investment choices in full awareness, by the adoption of behaviors based on common sense, which are essential to safeguard their savings: among these, a preventive verification, with respect to websites offering financial services, that the subject through which the investment is made is an authorized entity and, in relation to financial products offers, that the prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob reminds that on the homepage of its website www.consob.it, it is available the section "Watch out for scams!", where useful information have been published for the purpose of warning investors with relation to abusive financial initiatives.
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Published: 20/05/2020
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Published: 18/05/2020
PRESS RELEASE
In consideration of the progressive normalisation of the Italian market's risk indicators, CONSOB has decided to suspend the exceptional measure imposing a ban on the creation of net short positions and on the increase of existing net short positions. CONSOB will closely monitor the overall situation in financial markets.
Considering that the Coronavirus outbreak and the uncertainties surrounding its impact on the economy constituted a serious threat to market confidence, on 17 March CONSOB announced its decision to ban any creation of a net short position and any increase in an existing net short position for a period of three months.
In a uniformly declining market, with considerable uncertainties about the future extent of the decline, an increase in net short positions could have had a procyclical influence that CONSOB wanted to avoid by implementing this exceptional measure.
Since the implementation of the ban, the Authority has observed a progressive normalisation in financial market conditions together with a decrease in market liquidity.
Under these circumstances, CONSOB, in consultation with ESMA and the Austrian, Belgian, Greek, French and Spanish authorities which have taken similar action, has decided the early termination of the ban on net short positions, which will expire on 18 May at 23:59 pm (Consob Resolution no. 21367 of 15 May 2020). CONSOB continues to carefully monitor the situation in financial markets and remains in close contact with other authorities. Should the markets' situation require it, the Authority calls for coordinated European action. As a reminder, ESMA's decision requiring net short positions holders to report new positions of 0.1% of the issued shares capital is still in force.
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Published: 18/05/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Consob's Annual Meeting with the Financial Market will take place on Tuesday, 16 June 2020 at 11:00 a.m..
Due to the current health emergency, the intervention of the President, Professor Paolo Savona, will be broadcasted in live streaming.
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Published: 15/05/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Consob is alerting savers, through a specific Warning Notice, of the practice adopted by the abusive financial operators making an improper use of the name and of the image as well of well-known public figures to induce savers to the signing up of investment proposals supported by the promise of easy earnings.
Consob also ordered the blackout of 5 new websites, offering abusive financial services.
The Authority availed itself of the powers resulting from the "Growth Decree" (Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
Here below the names of said companies and websites:
- Uptos Ltd (website www.uptos.com)
- Swissgems Ltd and Media Solutions Ltd (website www.marketscfd.net)
- Zurichbanc Ltd (website www.zurichbanc.co)
- Platinumpro Investment Ltd (website https://platinumproinvestment.com)
- Bitcoin-Trader (website https://bitcointrader.software).
Accordingly, it has risen to 204 the overall number of websites which have been obscured by Consob starting from July 2019, since the Authority was empowered to order the blackout of abusive financial intermediaries websites.
The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it.
The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective.
Consob warns all savers about the value of making use of their utmost diligence in order to make their investment choices in full awareness, by the adoption of behaviors based on common sense, which are essential to safeguard their savings: among these, a preventive verification, with respect to websites offering financial services, that the subject through which the investment is made is an authorized entity and, in relation to financial products offers, that the prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob reminds that on the homepage of its website www.consob.it , it is available the section "Watch out for scams!", where useful information have been published for the purpose of warning investors with relation to abusive financial initiatives.
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Published: 14/05/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Consob approved the amendments to adapt the Issuers Regulation (Resolution no. 21359 of 13 May 2020 - only in Italian) to the provisions introduced by the Budget Law for 2020, concerning the issue of gender balance in the corporate bodies of listed companies.
The Law No. 160 of 27 December 2019 raises from, at least, one third (33%) to, at least, two fifths (40%) the share of reserved seats, in the management and control bodies, for the less represented gender and extends from three to six consecutive terms period during which the said standard will be in force.
The regulatory changes, adopted at the end of the consultation launched with the financial market, confirm the approach set by Consob in the Communication of last 30 January (only in Italian), which became necessary with an emergency procedure to clarify the interpretation of the application of the new rules in the perspective of the pending session for the renewal of the listed corporate bodies.
By the aforementioned resolution, Consob emphasizes that the criterion to be adopted for calculating the places to be reserved in the corporate bodies for the less represented gender is - as a general rule and in continuity with the previous regulation - that of rounding up. The criterion of rounding down is foreseen, instead, only in the case of corporate bodies of three members, due to the arithmetic impossibility of guaranteeing the gender balance based on rounding up criterion.
At the same time Consob made it clear, through these regulatory changes, that the strengthening of the safety measures, made by the Legislator for the protection of the less represented gender, will have to be applied to six consecutive mandates starting from the first renewal of the corporate bodies after the entry into force of the Budget Law, that is from the first of January 2020.
The explanatory report (only in Italian) and the contributions received in response to the consultation (only in Italian) are available at: http://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/consultazioni?viewId=consultazioni_concluse.
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Published: 11/05/2020
Communication about clarifications concerning the application of the increased voting rules pursuant to Article No. 127-quinquies of Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998 - Consolidated Law on Finance - 'Tuf'
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Published: 08/05/2020
Consob, following the Consultation with the financial market started on 21 February 2020, has adopted a "Recommendation on the ex post reporting methods of costs and charges connected with the provision of investment and ancillary services".
The initiative of Consob is part of the regulatory framework of MiFID II and of the related delegated acts, requiring intermediaries to provide more information transparency on the costs and charges connected with the provision of investment and ancillary services, with the purpose of allowing investors to an informed evaluation of the investments made.
Recommendation No. 1/2020 of 7 May 2020 Explanatory report (8 May 2020) [only in Italian] Opinion of the Market Operators and Investors Committee (COMI) [only in Italian] Consultation document of 21 February 2020 [only in Italian] Comments to the Consultation Document of 21 February 2020 (8 May 2020) [only in Italian] -
Published: 07/05/2020
List of information required for the assessment provided for under Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012
In accordance with Article 79-sexies, paragraph 6, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, the Bank of Italy and Consob have adopted Annex I of the ‘Joint Guidelines on the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increases of qualifying holdings in the financial sector' – issued by the European Supervisory Authorities on 20 December 2016 and available at https://esas-joint-committee.europa.eu/Publications/Guidelines/JC_QH_GLs_EN.pdf – as the list of minimum information that is necessary to carry out the assessment provided for in Article 32 of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (EMIR) with respect to a proposed acquisition of a qualifying holding in a central counterparty. This list of information provides an exhaustive framework for the assessment, harmonized at European level as a result of the aforementioned Guidelines.
This is without prejudice to the Bank of Italy and Consob's right to request further information according to the terms set out in Article 31, paragraph 3, of EMIR.
In order to avoid undue delays in the notification and assessment process of significant or complex transactions and in line with the aforementioned Guidelines, the proposed acquirers are encouraged to engage in pre-notification contacts with the Bank of Italy and Consob.
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Abusive Financial Services: Consob obscure 5 websites (Press Release of May 7th 2020)
Published: 07/05/2020
Consob has ordered the blackout of 5 new websites, offering abusive financial services.
The Authority availed itself of the powers resulting from the "Growth Decree" (‘Decreto Crescita', Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
Here below the names of the said websites and companies:
- CNBSFIN Ltd (www.cnbsfin.com website);
- "BitFxMarkets" (www.bitfxmarkets.com website);
- STSRoyal Ltd e Capital Letter GMBH (www.stsroyal.com website);
- Game Capital ADS (www.24proinvestors.com website);
- One Thousand One Ltd (www.daxcfd.com website).
Accordingly, it has risen to 199 the overall number of websites obscured by Consob starting from July 2019, since the Authority was empowered as to order the blackout of the unauthorized financial intermediaries websites.
The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it.
The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective.
Consob warns all investors about the value of making use of their utmost diligence in order to make their investment choices in full awareness, with the adoption of behaviors based on common sense, which are essential to safeguard their savings: among these, a preventive verification, with respect to websites which offer financial services, that the subject through which their investment is made is an authorized entity and, in relation to financial products offers, that the prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob reminds that on the homepage of its website www.consob.it , the section "Watch out for scams!" is available, where useful information have been published for the purpose of warning investors about the abusive financial initiatives.
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Published: 06/05/2020
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, is issuing a Public Statement on the risks for retail investors when trading under the highly uncertain market circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ESMA also reminds investment firms of the key conduct of business obligations under MiFID when providing services to retail investors.
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Published: 30/04/2020
Warning Notice no. 7/20 of 30 April 2020
Re: Warning about the highly-dilutive rights issue of Trevi Finanziaria Industriale S.p.A. - Application of the rolling model
In the next days the rights issue by Trevi Finanziaria Industriale S.p.A. will begin. Trevi Finanziaria Industriale S.p.A. shares are traded on the regulated market MTA, organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A.
This rights issue has a significant dilutive effect. This in turn implies the risk of anomalies in the shares' price discovery process during the subscription period, such as the overvaluation of the shares' market price compared to their theorical value.
In order to minimize this risk, the above-mentioned rights issue will be managed according to the so-called rolling model, as highlighted by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. with specific Market Notice.
The rolling model has been extensively described in Consob Communication no. 88305 of 5 October 2016, in the document "Esiti delle Consultazioni" of 28 April 2016 and in the technical rules issued by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. and Monte Titoli S.p.A. The model, in short, provides for the "early" exercise of the subscription rights in each day of the capital increase starting from the third day; the newly issued shares stemming from such early exercise will be made immediately available.
The early exercise has to be made in accordance with the procedures and within the time limits laid down in the Instructions for the CSD Service of Monte Titoli S.p.A., and with the contractual conditions agreed, case by case, with one's intermediary.
The early delivery of the newly issued shares is aimed at allowing arbitrage activity between shares and subscription rights starting from the first day of the rights issue; in turn, the arbitrage activity should minimize the risk that the above-mentioned price anomalies show up.
Alternatively, subscription rights can be exercised according to the standard model, i.e. with the delivery of the newly issued shares at the end of the rights issue.
Finally, it is worth highlighting, as described in Consob Communication no. 88305 of 5 October 2016, that the early delivery of the newly issued shares can cause investors to lose their right to revoke the decision of subscribing the new shares, provided for in Article 95-bis, paragraph 2, of the Italian Consolidated Law on Finance.
Additional information on the rolling model, including the above-mentioned documentation, is available in the dedicated section of Consob website (http://www.consob.it/web/consob-and-its-activities/highly-dilutive-rights-issues). Any question on the rolling model can be sent to: Consob - Market Division - Post-Trading Department – Via G. B. Martini 3 – 00198 Roma or emailing to post-trading@consob.it.
THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona -
Abusive financial services: Consob oscures 5 websites (Press Release 30 April 2020)
Published: 30/04/2020
Consob has ordered the blackout of 5 new websites, offering abusive financial services.
The Authority availed itself of the powers resulting from the "Growth Decree" (‘Decreto Crescita', Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
Here below the names of the said websites and companies:
- Sigma Consulting Limited and Solt Corp. Ltd (www.firstcapital.fm website);
- Itistocks Brokers (https://itistocksbrokers.com website);
- GAM Group Ltd (www.marketsfx.org website);
- Elit Property Vision Ltd (https://global-banco.com website)
- Platin-fx Ltd (www.platin-fx.com website)
Accordingly, it has risen to 194 the overall number of websites obscured by Consob starting from July 2019, since the Authority was empowered as to order the blackout of the unauthorized financial intermediaries websites.
The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it.
The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective.
Consob warns all investors about the value of making use of their utmost diligence in order to make their investment choices in full awareness, with the adoption of behaviors based on common sense, which are essential to safeguard their savings: among these, a preventive verification, with respect to websites which offer financial services, that the subject through which their investment is made is an authorized entity and, in relation to financial products offers, that the prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob reminds that on the homepage of its website www.consob.it , the section "Watch out for scams!" is available, where useful information have been published for the purpose of warning investors about the abusive financial initiatives.
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Published: 30/04/2020
Consob and the Bank of Italy submit the draft Supervisory Guidelines for Simple Investment Companies (Società di Investimento Semplice, SiS) for public consultation.
To facilitate the uniform and correct application of the new regulation, the joint communication contains a survey of the main provisions applicable to the SiS, defines some supervisory guidelines, which represent the expectations of Consob and the Bank of Italy on how the SiS will have to comply with the new regulations, indicates the procedure to be applied in the event of non-temporary exceeding of the equity limit of Article no. 1, paragraph 1, letter i-quater, of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF).
Comments can be sent within 90 days from the date of publication of the document for consultation (29 July 2020).
Joint Consultation Document Consob-Bank of Italy of 30 April 2020 (only Italian version) -
Published: 29/04/2020
The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) published a joint consultation document on 23 April 2020 to seek input on the proposals for regulatory technical standards developed pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019 / 2088 on sustainability in the financial services sector (SFDR) with the aim of:
- strengthening the protection of final investors;
- improving the information provided to investors by financial market participants and financial advisors; and
- improving disclosure to investors regarding financial products.
The SFDR authorizes ESAs to develop regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the content, methodology and presentation of information on ESG factors both at entity level and at product level. Furthermore, the consultation document contains proposals relating to the "Do not significant harm principle" (DNSH) identified in the EU Regulation 2019/2088.
The consultation ends on 1 September 2020.
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COVID19: Q&A about shareholders' meetings of listed companies (29 April 2019)
Published: 29/04/2020
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Abusive financial services: Consob obscures 5 websites (Press Release of April 24th, 2020)
Published: 24/04/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Consob has ordered the blackout of 5 new websites, offering abusive financial services.
The Authority availed itself of the powers resulting from the "Growth Decree" (‘Decreto Crescita', Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article no. 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) on the basis of which Consob can order Internet connectivity service providers to inhibit access from Italy to the websites through which financial services are offered without due authorization.
Here below the names of the said websites and companies:
- Finance Activity Group (www.capo-invest.com website);
- FXTrading Corp (https://fxtradingcorp.trade website);
- Tradefxzone Ltd and SolutionsCM Ltd (https://tradefxzone.com website);
- ForTradersFx Ltd (www.fortraders-fx.com website);
- OGAM Ltd (www.ogamfx.com website).
Accordingly, it has risen to 189 the overall number of websites obscured by Consob starting from July 2019, since the Authority was empowered as to order the blackout of the unauthorized financial intermediaries websites.
The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it.
The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress. For technical reasons it can take a few days for making them effective.
Consob warns all investors about the value of making use of their utmost diligence in order to make their investment choices in full awareness, with the adoption of behaviors based on common sense, which are essential to safeguard their savings: among these, a preventive verification, with respect to websites which offer financial services, that the subject through which their investment is made is an authorized entity and, in relation to financial products offers, that the prospectus has been published.
To this end, Consob reminds to investors that on the homepage of its website www.consob.it, the section "Watch out for scams!" is available, where useful information have been published for the purpose of warning investors about the abusive financial initiatives.
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Published: 23/04/2020
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Published: 20/04/2020
On April 17, 2020, the Resolution no. 21318 of 7 April 2020 [only Italian version] establishing Consob accepted market practice no. 1 relating to market liquidity enhancement activity has been published in the Official Journal of the Italian Republic.
The new accepted market practice no. 1 will enter into force thirty days after publication.
At the same time, accepted market practice no. 1 previously admitted with Consob Resolution no. 16839 of March 19, 2009 [only Italian version] will cease.
Market Practice inherent to market liquidity enhancement activity (Practice no. 1) -
Published: 15/04/2020
Communications for investor protection
Published: May 25, 2020