Newsletter - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
Newsletter
News of the week:
Watch for scams! Financial fraud: Consob blacks out 5 more unauthorised websites
Consob Statistical Bullettin
Three-Year Plan on Corruption Prevention and Transparency: update of Consob's Three-Year Plan 2024-2026
ESMA: consultation on the reverse solicitation and classification of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments under the MiCA legislation
OECD Report on financial consumer risks
Commission decisions
Management decision
Consob has ordered the black-out of 5 new websites that offer financial services illegally.
The commission availed itself of the new powers resulting from the "Decreto Crescita" ("Growth Decree"; Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorisation.
Below are the sites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- StormInvest (website www.storminvest.org);
- Nextgentrading (website https://nextgentrading.io and its pages https://client.nextgentrading.io and https://webtrader.nextgentrading.io);
- Finexleaders (website www.finexleaders.eu);
- AI2Trade Ltd (website www.ai2trade.com and its pages https://trading.ai2trade.com and https://panel.ai2trade.com);
- Axia Group Ltd and Axiacvs (website www.axiacvs.co and its pages https://client.axiacvs.co and https://webtraderapp.net).
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 1013.
The measures adopted by Consob can be consulted on its 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.
Piazza Affari: capitalisation returned to pre-Lehman Brothers levels in 2023.
The balance between new listings and delistings on the main stock exchange was positive (from 209 to 212).
The number of shares traded on the EGM platform is up (+13).
These are the figures in the latest Consob Statistical Bulletin on Italian companies listed on the Stock Exchange, which offers a snapshot of Italian companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
Market capitalisation up 20.5% for Piazza Affari in 2023 compared to the previous year. The Milan stock exchange has thus returned to the levels prior to the great financial crisis of 2008 and the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers bank.
The total market value of Piazza Affari rose to €574 billion at the end of 2023 (from €476 billion at the end of 2022). As of 31 December 2023, the capitalisation/GDP ratio (according to preliminary ISTAT data) grew to 28% from 24% the previous year.
Also including the data of Euronext Growth Milan (EGM), the multilateral trading platform established as an unregulated market for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the Vorvel multilateral trading system, the total capitalisation at the end of 2023 is €586 billion, or 28.6% of GDP.
2023 recorded a setback in the tendency of Italian companies to abandon the Stock Exchange. The balance between new listings and delistings on the main stock exchange, Euronext Milan (EXM) as positive (+3%). In comparison with 9 new entries, there were 6 delistings.
EGM continues to expand with 13 new entries in 2023, bringing the total to 198 companies.
Between EXM, EGM and Vorvel, the total number of companies traded rose at the end of 2023 to 428, from 412 at the end of 2022.
The exchange value of shares of Italian listed companies on national and European platforms is substantially stable (€730 billion).
The volume of trading in Italian government bonds increased (+25%). The value of government bonds traded on Italian platforms rose in 2023 to €4,500 billion, from €3,600 billion in 2022. The trading of bonds of Italian issuers other than government bonds was almost constant.
On 24 January 2024, the Commission approved the update of the Three-Year Plan for Corruption Prevention and Transparency (PTPCT) 2024-2026.
The PTPCT defines the strategic objectives on corruption prevention and transparency and the related actions to achieve them.
The document illustrates: i) the results of the monitoring of the implementation of the activities envisaged in the previously published Plan; ii) the activities carried out in 2023; iii) the initiatives planned for the next three years.
The 2024-2026 PTPCT and its annexes are available on the Consob website under the section http://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/altri-contenuti-corruzione.
On 29 January, ESMA, the EU's Financial Markets Regulatory and Supervisory Authority, published two consultation documents on the guidelines provided by the crypto-asset markets regulation (MiCA), one on reverse solicitation and the other on the classification of such assets as financial instruments.
In the consultation paper on the guidelines on reverse solicitation - the provision of financial products or services at the initiative of the client - ESMA will collect useful contributions to define the guidelines relating to: 1) the applicability of the exemption from reverse solicitation, and 2) the supervisory practices to be suggested to the national competent authorities (NCAs) to prevent their circumvention.
The starting point for the proposed guidelines is a previous guideline with which ESMA had established that the provision of cryptocurrency services by a third-country firm should be limited, under the MiCA Regulation, to cases where the service has as its initial source a client initiative. However, this is a very limited exemption, applicable in exceptional cases and cannot be used to circumvent the MiCA.
In the consultation paper on the guidelines and criteria for the classification of crypto-assets as financial instruments, ESMA will therefore collect the necessary contributions to define clear conditions and criteria for the compliant qualification of crypto-assets. This initiative follows ESMA's previous work and aims to establish a bridge between the MiCA and the Financial Instruments Markets Directive II (MiFID II), ensuring a consistent regulatory framework across the EU and global standards in the regulation of crypto-assets.
The consultation will close on 29 April 2024. ESMA will review the feedback received in Q2 2024, with the publication of a final report in Q4 2024.
A risk analysis, also in view of the economic situation, for the offer of retail financial products and services, with statistics for the monitoring risks, disputes, the use of out-of-court settlement tools, fraud and financial scandals.
This is what the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, offers in the Consumer Finance Risk Monitor Report (https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/finance-and-investment/consumer-finance-risk-monitor_047b2ea6-en#page1), drafted as part of the G20/OECD Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection. The Report summarises the perspectives of 43 jurisdictions on financial consumer risks in 2022 and 2023.
The application of the G20/OECD High-Level Principles of Financial Consumer Protection by the Authorities provides tools to strengthen the protection and surveillance of financial consumers, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable.
- The supplement to the registration document of Banca Popolare dell'Alto Adige Spa, approved on 22 June 2023, drafted pursuant to Article 10, section 1, and 23 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the "Prospectus Regulation") has been approved (decision of 31 September 2024).
- Bridge Real Estate Srl, based in Capiago Intimiano (CO), is authorised pursuant to article 4-sexies.1 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 and article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, as a crowdfunding service provider to provide the crowdfunding service referred to in art. 2, paragraph 1, letter a, sub i), of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 consisting in the intermediation in the granting of loans (resolution no. 22984 of 31 January 2024).
- Prepay Srl, based in Milan, is authorised pursuant to article 4-sexies.1 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 and article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, as a crowdfunding service provider to provide the crowdfunding service referred to in art. 2, paragraph 1, letter a, sub i), of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 consisting in the intermediation in the granting of loans (resolution no. 22983 of 31 January 2024).
- Bildap Srl, based in Milan, has been authorised pursuant to Article 4-sexies.1 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 and Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, as a crowdfunding service provider to provide the crowdfunding service referred to in Article 2, paragraph 1, letter a, sub ii), of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 consisting in the placement without an irrevocable commitment and the receipt and transmission of client orders relating to securities and instruments admitted for crowdfunding purposes issued by project owners or special purpose vehicles (resolution no. 22985 of 31 January 2024).
Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, letter b) of Italian Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) to cease infringement of art. 18 of Consolidated Law on Finance, put in place by:
- StormInvest via the website www.storminvest.org (resolution no. 22989 of 31 January 2024).
- Nextgentrading via the website https://nextgentrading.io and its pages https://client.nextgentrading.io and https://webtrader.nextgentrading.io (resolution no. 22987 of 31 January 2024);
- Finexleaders via the website www.finexleaders.eu (resolution no. 22990 of 31 January 2024);
- AI2Trade Ltd via the website www.ai2trade.com and its related pages https://trading.ai2trade.com and https://panel.ai2trade.com (resolution no. 22986 of 31 January 2024);
- Axia Group Ltd and Axiacvs via the website www.axiacvs.co and its related pageshttps://client.axiacvs.co and https://webtraderapp.net (resolution no. 22988 of 31 January 2024).
- The Head of the Corporate Governance Division and the Issuers' Division Manager of Consob, on the basis of the provisions of Article 3(3) of Consob Regulation no. 20267 of 18 January 2018, according to which "Each year Consob shall publish on its website a list of subjects that have published non-financial statements" have completed the list of subjects who in the period from 1 January to 31 December 2023 published non-financial statements (NFS) for the financial year commencing 1 January 2023 (the list was already disclosed with management decision no. 84 of 26 July 2023). The full text of management decision no. 91 of 26 January 2024 is available at www.consob.it
- The Head of Consob's Corporate Governance Division, on the basis of the provisions of article 147-ter of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) and articles 144-ter et seq. of the Issuers' Regulations, has determined the minimum shareholding for the presentation of slates of candidates for the election of the boards of directors and control bodies of listed companies whose financial year ended on 31 December 2023. The full text of the management decision no. 92 of 31 January 2024 is available on the website www.consob.it, together with a table setting out the criteria used to determine the qualifying shareholding.