Weekly newsletter year XXXI, No. 39, 3 November 2025 - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
Newsletter
News of the week:
Watch for “pump&dump”! New Consob warning on the risks of scams that manipulate prices on financial markets
Consob launches official profiles on Instagram and Facebook
How to manage your money better: the eighth edition of Financial Education Month is underway - Until November 30, free events for everyone to learn how to use money wisely
Save the date - 17 November 2025: Digitalisation, monetary system and financial stability - Sapienza University of Rome
Save the date - 24 November 2025: Artificial intelligence and public administration - Consob Auditorium, Rome
Save the date - November 27, 2025 - Conference "From protection to enhancement of savings - Ideas, tools, and challenges for real change" - Consob Auditorium, Rome
Watch for Scams! Abusive financial services: Consob blocks five websites offering illegal financial services
Consob's decisions of the week
N.B. measures adopted by Consob are published in the electronic Bulletin and, where envisaged, also in the Gazzetta Ufficiale. This newsletter summarises the more important or general measures and their disclosure here is therefore merely to update readers on Commission activities.
- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
Never trust strangers, especially if they promise easy money via social media and WhatsApp. Following many complaints from defrauded investors, Consob has issued a new warning, this time about pump&dump schemes: beware of investment tips that come through informal channels such as messaging apps. Behind profiles presenting themselves as analysts, financial operators, or even prominent Consob representatives, there are subjects promoting the purchase of penny stocks, low-cost shares of small companies, mainly Chinese or American, listed on the Nasdaq, promising easy money with outstanding returns in a short time.
In fact, these subjects already hold a significant amount of the shares in question and coordinate the purchases of unwary participants via WhatsApp groups, often asking for a screenshot as proof of the transaction. The goal is to artificially inflate the stock price (pump), then massively sell their shares (dump), making a profit but causing a sudden collapse in the stock price to the damage of the investors involved, who suffer heavy losses.
Consob points out that pump&dump schemes can also occur in the trading of crypto-assets.
Consob urges investors to recognize the warning signs: unsolicited messages or emails; invitations to join investment groups; references to high returns in a short time; pressure to act immediately or requests for personal data and screenshots.
The Commission also reminds investors of the importance of always verifying the reliability of sources, by consulting also the “Watch for Scams!” section on the www.consob.it website, where useful information is available to help avoid falling into financial traps.
Prevention is essential in these cases, not least because deceptive schemes involving securities not listed on EU markets leave investors without the protection of EU market abuse rules.
Finally, Consob draws the attention of those who disseminate false or misleading communications, including through pump&dump schemes, to the possible consequences they face under the regulations in force in the relevant jurisdictions (such as the United States) and to the criminal consequences that may arise in cases of fraud.
Consob is expanding its presence on social media with the launch of official profiles on Instagram and Facebook, alongside its LinkedIn page, which has been active since May 2025.
With this step, the Authority is strengthening its digital communication strategy to engage in a more direct and accessible way with its target audience.
The new channels will report on institutional activities, events, and financial education initiatives, using visual and immediate language in line with today's most popular ways of consuming digital content.
The profiles will not be open to comments, at least in the initial phase.
The eighth edition of Financial Education Month officially kicks off and will run from November 1 to 30, 2025, throughout Italy, with free in-person and online events dedicated to the conscious management of personal and family financial resources, aimed at all age groups.
"Financial education: today for your tomorrow" is the key message of the initiative, which aims to raise awareness among citizens of all ages about the importance of knowing how to manage their financial resources, protect themselves, and plan for the future with greater awareness.
This year, in addition to the blue version of the general logo, Financial Education Month features a range of colors designed to facilitate orientation among the initiatives: pink identifies those aimed primarily at women, green accompanies themes related to environmental sustainability, yellow distinguishes proposals from universities and scientific institutions, while purple signals activities dedicated to technological and financial innovation.
The Financial Education Month calendar, available on the Edufin Committee website at calendar 2025, offers a rich program of seminars, workshops, webinars, shows, and educational games promoted by public and private entities, schools, universities, associations, and businesses.
Among the highlights is the return, for the second consecutive year, of Financial Legality Day, scheduled for November 18 in Alghero.
The event, dedicated to promoting a culture of legality in schools and preventing illegal behavior in the financial sphere, is organized by the Edufin Committee in collaboration with the Guardia di Finanza and the Ministry of Education and Merit, with the patronage of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It is an important opportunity to reflect on the value of transparency, fairness, and responsibility in everyday economic choices.
On December 5, as part of the event organized in Rome by Consob entitled "Schools, teachers, and economic and financial education: a field analysis," the Committee will present the results of the new "Report on Financial Education in Schools."
The initiatives of Financial Education Month can be shared and followed on social media using the official hashtag: #NovembreEdufin2025.
Consob has organised a seminar entitled 'Digitalisation, monetary system and financial stability', which will be held on 17 November 2025 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Sapienza University of Rome - Faculty of Economics, Via del Castro Laurenziano, 9 - Rome.
The event will focus on issues related to the development of new digital technologies and their implications for the monetary system, the economy and financial markets.
Following the keynote speech by Consob Chairman Paolo Savona, dedicated to the topic of a possible international monetary duopoly and its implications for the economy and financial markets, the seminar will feature the presentation and discussion of two academic studies on competition between stablecoins and central bank digital currency and the evolution of cross-border finance.
The detailed programme of the event and how to participate will be announced shortly. The event will also be accessible remotely and the relevant link will be communicated together with the programme.
On 24 November 2025, from 10:00 a.m., at the Auditorium in Via Claudio Monteverdi, 35 Rome, Consob will host the seminar 'Artificial Intelligence and Public Administration', organised by the Network of Data Protection Officers of Independent Administrative Authorities.
The event is an important opportunity to discuss the role of Artificial Intelligence within Public Administration, also in light of recent national legislation, and the need to identify shared strategies for the ethical and responsible development of related applications, in order to balance innovation and the protection of fundamental rights.
After institutional greetings from Paolo Savona, President of Consob, and an introduction by Paola Cardillo, coordinator of the network, the following speakers will take the floor: Pasquale Stanzione (President of the Italian Data Protection Authority); Mario Nobile (Director General of the Agency for Digital Italy – Agid); Bruno Frattasi (Prefect, Director General of the Agency for National Cybersecurity – Acn); Father Paolo Benanti (President of the Commission on AI for Information of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Member of the United Nations New Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board and Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University); Corrado Giustozzi (Senior Cybersecurity Strategist, lecturer at the Campus Bio-Medico University, member of the Authority for Supervision and Guarantees in Public ICT Services) of the Republic of San Marino).
The floor will then be given to the discussants – Francesco Pizzetti (Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Turin); Carlo Mochi Sismondi (President of FPA); Anna Cataleta (Senior Partner at P4I); Rocco Panetta (President of Panetta Consulting Group); Giuseppe Francesco Italiano (Professor of Computer Science at Luiss Guido Carli University) – for comments and questions to the speakers.
The event programme is available on the website at the following link: https://www.consob.it/documents/d/asset-library-1912910/20251124_networkrpd.
In-person participation is by invitation only. The event will also be streamed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/lw52nkzWRSQ.
The Financial Disputes Arbitrator, in collaboration with Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics, and the National Association for the Study of Credit Problems (Anspc), has organized the meeting "From protection to enhancement of savings - Ideas, tools, and challenges for real change" to be held on November 27, 2025, starting at 2:30 p.m., at the Consob Auditorium, Via Claudio Monteverdi, 35, Rome.
The event is an important first opportunity to discuss issues related to channelling savings towards productive investments in order to promote economic growth, with particular reference, at European level, to the project to relaunch and develop the Union's financial structure - the Saving and Investment Union (SIU) - and, at national level, to the reform of the Consolidated Law on Finance currently being implemented.
The proceedings will be opened by the Chairman of Consob, Paolo Savona, and the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Giovanni Di Bartolomeo.
This will be followed by a round table discussion in which representatives from the institutional and academic worlds will exchange views on their experiences and prospects.
The program and registration details for the conference will be announced as soon as possible on the website www.consob.it.
Consob has ordered the blackout of 5 new websites promoting or providing 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 no. 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 authorization.
Below are the websites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- Ghost Global Limited (website https://ghostgloballtd.com and related page https://cab.ghostglbltd.com);
- “Di-Fi Global” e “Connect Global” (website https://di-figlobal.info and related page https://webtrader.di-figlobal.info);
- MT4 Market Consulting (website https://mt4markets.com and related page https://client.mt4markets.com);
- “TradeIn24” (website https://tradein24.com and related pages https://clients.tradein24.com and https://trading.tradein24.com);
- “Quintus Trade” (website www.quintustrade.com and related pages https://client.quintustrade.com and https://trade.quintustrade.com).
The number of websites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blacked out, has thus risen to 1465.
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 blackout 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 behaviors, essential to safeguard their savings: these include, for websites that offer financial services, checking in advance that the operator with whom they are investing is authorized, and, for offers of financial products and crypto assets, whether the prospectus or white paper has been published.
To this end, Consob would remind you that on the website www.consob.it there is a section on the homepage, "Watch for Scams!", providing useful information to warn investors against financially unauthorized initiatives.
- Approval of the prospectus, drawn up in tripartite format, relating to the offer and admission to trading on Euronext Milan, organized and managed by Borsa Italiana Spa, of the ordinary shares of Avio Spa resulting from the capital increase with option rights pursuant to Article 2441, paragraph 1, of the Italian Civil Code, as approved by the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of October 23, 2025.
- Approval of the information note relating to the public offering or admission to trading of knock-out securities and warrants intended for retail customers, institutional investors and/or other qualified investors, issued by Unicredit Spa.
Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, letter b), of Legislative Decree No. 58 of February 24, 1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance – TUF), to put an end to the violation of Article 18 of the same TUF, committed by:
- Ghost Global Limited through the website https://ghostgloballtd.com and the related page https://cab.ghostglbltd.com (resolution no. 23729 of October 29, 2025);
- "Di-Fi Global" and "Connect Global" through the website https://di-figlobal.info and its page https://webtrader.di-figlobal.info (resolution no. 23728 of October 29, 2025);
- MT4 Market Consulting via the website https://mt4markets.com and the relevant page https://client.mt4markets.com (resolution no. 23727 of October 29, 2025);
- "TradeIn24" via the website https://tradein24.com and related pages https://clients.tradein24.com and https://trading.tradein24.com (resolution no. 23726 of October 29, 2025);
- “Quintus Trade” via the website www.quintustrade.com and related pages https://client.quintustrade.com and https://trade.quintustrade.com (resolution no. 23730 of October 29, 2025).
CONSOB INFORMS (Rome Tribunal Registration no. 250 of 30/10/2013) Chief Editor: Manlio Pisu - Editorial board: Ilaria Fabbiani, Michele Baccinelli (coordinators), Pasquale Munafò, Laura Ferri, Claudia Amadio, Alfredo Gloria, Luca Cecchini, Chiara De Felice - Address: CONSOB Via G. B. Martini, 3 - 00198 Rome - telephone: (06) 84771 - fax: (06) 8417707. Documents or reports can be submitted via the interactive section of the web site www.consob.it, where CONSOB INFORMA can also be consulted via the "newsletter" link.