News of the week:
SMEs, competition and capital markets: an international comparison - Presentation of the first Consob-Cetif report at the Catholic University
Consob at Casa Sanremo Invest
A week of training for students at Consob
Financial education: applications open for Global Money Week (16-22 March 2026)
Financial education: applications open for Global Money Week (16-22 March 2026)

Consob's decisions of the week

- NEWS OF THE WEEK -

"Small and medium-sized enterprises are a cornerstone of the country's industrial structure, but they have a very complicated relationship with the capital market, which is certainly limited" in terms of numbers. Luca Filippa, Consob Director General, opened the presentation of the First Report on SMEs and the Capital Market produced by the Consob Observatory and Cetif - Centre for Research on Technology, Innovation and Financial Services, of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

The document analyses, for the first time in a systematic way, the relationship between Italian small and medium-sized enterprises and capital markets: from access to listing on the stock exchange to cases of delisting. The data show that only 0.14% of the sample of SMEs analysed are listed companies, a low number due to several factors, including cultural ones.

'There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but we need to have more measures tailored to specific sectors and geographical areas,' said Paola Deriu, Head of the Research and Regulation Division at Consob. During the meeting, cases from other countries, including Spain, Sweden and the United States, were also presented.

The full report is available on the Consob website.

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Consob will be present at two separate events at Casa Sanremo Invest, the Casa Sanremo space dedicated to personal finance, economics, investments and technological innovations.

On Monday 23 February, Irene Tagliamonte, Head of the Regulatory Impact Analysis Office, will speak at 5.10 p.m. at the panel discussion on "Digital finance and crypto-assets: the scope of MiCar and implementation challenges" to talk about the regulatory challenges associated with the development of new technologies.

On Tuesday 24 February, Paola Soccorso, Head of the Financial Education Office, will be a guest on the panel "From the attention economy to prediction markets: opportunities and risks of prediction markets", which will address the topic of "prediction markets", where contracts linked to the occurrence of certain future events are traded, with prices varying according to expectations.

This will be an opportunity to navigate the regulations and precautions to be taken when approaching a constantly evolving environment such as finance.

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Almost 200 students from eight schools in Rome attended a week of training at Consob's Rome headquarters dedicated to financial education.

The School-Work Training course, consisting of 14 teaching modules and three gaming sessions, covered various topics, from knowledge of financial markets to the protection of savings and the risks associated with investments, with a particular focus on online scams.

The aim of the meetings, which were held from 9 to 13 February in the Consob Auditorium, was not only to provide the tools for informed investing, but also to equip students with the skills they need to understand how to navigate the world of economics and finance.

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Consob has ordered the blocking of five new websites that offered investment services without authorisation.

The following are the websites that Consob has ordered to be blocked: 

- 'Eurogpb' (website www.eurogpb.com and related page https://clientarea.eurogpb.com);

- Falcon Ltd (website , website , https://alpha-connects.com and related page https://my.alpha-connects.com);

- "LevaQuant" (website https://levaquant.com and related page https://area.levaquant.org);

- "Darwinex IT" (website https://darwinexitltd.com and related page https://client.darwinexitltd.com);

- "CapitalAI" (website https://capitalai-ltd.com and related page https://trader.capitalai-ltd.com).

This brings the total number of websites blocked by Consob since July 2019, when the Authority was given the power to order the blocking of websites of abusive financial intermediaries, to 1,575.

The Authority has exercised the powers conferred on it by the 'Growth Decree' (Law No. 58 of 28 June 2019, Article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies) to block the websites of abusive financial intermediaries.

The measures adopted by Consob are available on the website www.consob.it. Internet connectivity providers operating in Italy are currently working to block access to the websites. For technical reasons, it may take a few days for the blocking to take effect.

It is important that savers exercise the utmost diligence in making fully informed investment choices, adopting common sense behaviours that are essential for safeguarding their savings: these include checking in advance, for websites offering investment and crypto-asset services, that the operator through which you are investing is authorised and, for financial and crypto-asset product offerings, that the prospectus or white paper has been published.

Consob also draws attention to the evolution of deceptive practices that exploit the internet to steal users' money and personal data: there has been an increase in the use of new tools, such as e-mail messages and 'cloned' websites, fake profiles of politicians and celebrities, and content generated using artificial intelligence systems - such as images, voices or videos - with the aim of inducing savers to make harmful investment choices.

To this end, Consob invites savers to read the information sheet containing advice on how to protect themselves from financial fraud in the age of artificial intelligence and reminds them that its website has a section entitled 'Beware of scams!', which provides useful information to warn investors against abusive financial initiatives.

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Applications to propose events and initiatives for Global Money Week 2026, the international campaign to raise awareness of financial, insurance and pension education among young people, can be submitted until 25 February 2026.

Global Money Week is an annual initiative promoted by the OECD with the aim of raising awareness among the younger generation of the importance of sound financial skills for making responsible decisions. Since 2012, the event has involved over 70 million young people in 176 countries. In Italy, the organisation and coordination of activities is entrusted to the Committee for the Planning and Coordination of Financial Education Activities (Comitato Edufin).

The theme of this edition is 'Smart money talks'. Young people often find themselves facing financial choices but are not always comfortable talking about money. Sharing experiences and asking the right people questions, together with a good understanding of finance, insurance and social security, can help them develop skills, avoid mistakes and build healthy habits to achieve financial well-being.

The Edufin Committee invites associations, institutions, schools, universities and research centres, businesses, foundations, public administrations and all interested organisations to propose initiatives to raise awareness of financial, insurance and social security issues aimed at young people and the world of education.

Applications can be submitted using the form available on the website http://www.comitatoeducazionefinanziaria.gov.it. All initiatives that meet the requirements set out in the Global Money Week 2026 Guidelines will be accepted. Approved events will be published in the official event calendar and schools will be notified.

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Approval of the document concerning the mandatory public purchase offer promoted by Zinc BidCo Spa, pursuant to Articles 102, 106, paragraph 1 and 109 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, concerning a maximum of 19,573,795 shares issued by Tinexta Spa, at a unit price of €15.00 cum dividend. The offer acceptance period will begin on 23 February 2026 and end on 20 March 2026 inclusive, and any reopening of the terms, if the conditions are met, will take place on 30 March, 31 March and 1, 2 and 7 April 2026 (resolution no. 23876 of 18 February 2026).

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, letter b), of Legislative Decree No. 58 of 24 February 1998 (Consolidated Finance Act – TUF) to put an end to the violation of Article 18 of the same TUF, committed by:

- 'Eurogpb' through the website www.eurogpb.com and the related page https://clientarea.eurogpb.com (resolution no. 23880 of 19 February 2026):

- Falcon Ltd through the website https://alpha-connects.com and its page https://my.alpha-connects.com (resolution no. 23879 of 19 February 2026):

"LevaQuant" via the website https://levaquant.com and its page https://area.levaquant.org (resolution no. 23881 of 19 February 2026):

"Darwinex IT" via the website https://darwinexitltd.com and related page https://client.darwinexitltd.com (resolution no. 23878 of 19 February 2026):

"CapitalAI" via the website https://capitalai-ltd.com and its page https://trader.capitalai-ltd.com (resolution no. 23877 of 19 February 2026).

Pursuant to Article 99, paragraph 1, letter c) of the Consolidated Law on Finance, the offer to the public residing in Italy of the "Plans" called "Novizio", "Amatoriale", "Promo", "Premium" and "Ultimo" promoted by Venture Capital Funds Limited, including through the website www.venture-funds.ltd, is prohibited (Resolution No. 23875 of 18 February 2026). The offer had already been suspended as a precautionary measure by Consob Resolution No. 23758 of 20 November 2025, and at the same time, internet service providers had been ordered to block the relevant internet domain in Italy.

Approval of the supplement to the prospectus published on 31 July 2025, aimed at the public offering and subscription of ordinary shares of Banca Popolare Etica Scpa.

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