News In Detail - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
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Published: 01/01/1970
Today 18 April 2024 at 11:00 at the Consob Auditorium in Rome, entrance on Via Claudio Monteverdi, 35, the President of the Alternative Financial Dispute Resolution Scheme, has presented the 2023 Annual Report.
Link to see the event https://youtube.com/live/Ff1yX0iz4fQ
- 2023 Annual Report (only Italian version)
- Speech by President Gianpaolo Eduardo Barbuzzi (only Italian version) -
Published: 01/01/1970
PRESS RELEASE
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.
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Published: 01/01/1970
The Greek supervisory authority Hellenic Capital Market Commission ('HCMC') has announced that it has temporarily suspended the authorisation of CAPITAL SECURITIES S.A. to operate as an investment firm for a period of 45 days. Updated information can be found at the following link http://www.hcmc.gr/en_US/web/portal/home
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Published: 01/01/1970
Press Release of Edufin Committee (Committee for the Planning and Coordination of Financial Education Activities)
The 24th of March marked the end of the 12th edition of Global Money Week, the awareness 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 Labor 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 consideration was paid to online payments, cybersecurity and fraud and scams made through 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 building 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 lectures were held for secondary students, and webinars and seminars were held for college students and young adults; online materials such as video tutorials, video pills, and Podcasts were disseminated to all, which were always accessible. Some schools also came up with initiatives which were implemented independently within the Institutes.
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Published: 01/01/1970
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 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:
- "GMT" (websites www.gmtdirect.com, www.gmtplatform.com and www.gmtcapitals.com and related pages https://client.gmtdirect.com and https://client.gmtplatform.com);
- "Capitalpartners24" (website https://capitalpartners24.com);
- "FP Invest" (website www.fpinvest247.io);
- "Smart Limited Group" (website https://smart-limited-group.com and related page https://cfd.smart-limited-group.com);
- "Stockcptls" (website https://stockcptls.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 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 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, that a prospectus 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.
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25 June 2024 - Consob’s Annual Meeting with the Financial Market
Published: 01/01/1970
Tuesday, 25 June 2024, Consob’s Annual Meeting with the Financial Market will be held in the presence of the President of the Republic.
The event, which will take place at the headquarters of Palazzo Mezzanotte in Piazza Affari, Milan, will officially kick off the Institute's 50th Anniversary Celebrations and can be followed starting at 11:00 a.m. via live streaming at www.consob.it.
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Published: 01/01/1970
PRESS RELEASE
What can a saver do in the event of a dispute with the financial or banking intermediary he or she has approached? How can he or she try to recover his money? Does he or she have to take legal action? Is it really necessary to go to court? The answer is no. There are two alternatives, both of which are free, fast and efficient, that allow disputes between savers and intermediaries to be resolved without resorting to the court system.
They are the Securities and Financial Ombudsman (Arbitro per le Controversie Finanziarie - Acf) and the Banking and Financial Ombudsman (Arbitro Bancario Finanziario - Abf), two bodies operating respectively at Consob and the Bank of Italy, whose task is to ensure, outside the courtrooms, a quick and smooth resolution of disputes between customers and financial or banking intermediaries.
Taking stock of these two alternative tools for closing disputes will be a conference entitled: "Acf and Abf for the protection of banking and financial customers" (“Acf e Abf per la tutela dei clienti bancari e finanziari”) scheduled in Milan next Thursday, 11 April, as part of the Salone del Risparmio, where for the second year in a row the Acf will have its own stand.
On the third and final day of the Salone, Thursday, the one open to students, savers and the undifferentiated public, the two Ombudsman will introduce themselves to visitors explaining how they work, how can you access them and what benefits they offer savers.
Speakers include Gianpaolo Barbuzzi, President of the Securities and Financial Ombudsman, established at Consob; Magda Bianco, head of the Bank of Italy's Customer Protection and Financial Education Department; Raffaele Lener, Full Professor of Financial Market and Commercial Law and former member of Abf and Acf; and Anna Vizzari, economist, Team coordinator at Altroconsumo.
Antonio Criscione, journalist at Plus/IlSole24Ore, will moderate.
Scheduled time Thursday, 11 April, H. 9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. at the Salone del Risparmio, Mi.Co. Sud, Milan, Sala Amber 6, Level +2.
For information and registration see: https://www.salonedelrisparmio.com/.
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Data Hub of the EU financial sector - European Commission's call for proposals (8 April 2024)
Published: 01/01/1970
The European Commission has launched a Call for Proposals to obtain indications from financial companies in the European Union about the types of data held by the supervisory authorities, useful for developing innovative products and services, testing new applications, and training artificial intelligence models, at the same time 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.
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Published: 01/01/1970
Consob has ordered the black-out of 6 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 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:
- "Mainrow" (website https://momentumltd.io and related pages https://client.momentumltd.io and https://webtrader.momentumltd.io);
- "Sgbfinancesa.io" (website https://sgbfinancialsaltd.cm and related pages https://client.sgbfinancialsaltd.cm and https://webtrader.sgbfinancialsaltd.cm);
- "Fiducia Capital FX" (website www.fiduciacapitalfx.com and page https://client.fiduciacapitalfx.com);
- "Immediate Eurax 24" (websites www.immediateeurax.net and www.immediateeurax24.com);
- "AMACAP" (website https://amacap.eu and related page https://client.amacap.eu).
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 1053.
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 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, that a prospectus 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.
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Watch for Scams! Abusive financial services: Consob blacks out 5 abusive websites (22 March 2024)
Published: 01/01/1970
Consob has ordered the black-out of 5 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 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:
- Imperialcap24 Limited and Top Markets Ltd (website https://imperialcap24.com and related page https://wt.imperialcap24.com);
- "AfexEU" (website www.afexeultd.com and related pages https://client.afexeultd.com and https://trade.afexeultd.com);
- "Bitblanco" (website www.bitblanco.io);
- "INVESTRIUM" (website https://investriumltd.com and pages https://accountusers.dashboard.clientzonearea.webtradersclientzone.com and https://clientzone.account.deposit.payment.webtraderdashboard.com);
- "FameFX24" (website https://famefx24.com and related pages https://crm.investmentcfd.com and https://trading.wrt33.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 1047.
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 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, that a prospectus 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.
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Published: 01/01/1970
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Published: 01/01/1970
On 18 April 2024 H. 11 a.m. at the Consob Auditorium in Rome, entrance from Via Claudio Monteverdi, 35, the President of the Securities and Financial Ombudsman (Arbitro per le Controversie Finanziarie – ACF), Gianpaolo Eduardo Barbuzzi, will present the Annual Report for the year 2023.
Registration of participants will take place starting H. 10:00 a.m.
Participation is free, but online registration is appreciated: https://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/iscrizione-seminari
For more information, please contact the following number: +39-06-84.77.718.
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Published: 01/01/1970
On 12 April 2024, H. 10:30 a.m., at the Consob Auditorium (via Claudio Monteverdi 35, Rome), a conference organized by Consob, in collaboration with Borsa Italiana, dedicated to the presentation of initiatives aimed at increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the Italian primary debt market will take place.
During the conference, different innovative solutions will be surveyed to foster the development of the debt capital market as a strategic lever to support public finance, facilitating the inflow of private resources and promoting the realization of private sector investments.
Federico Cornelli (Consob Commissioner) will open the proceedings, followed by a speech by Fabrizio Testa (Borsa Italiana CEO) and a Roundtable with speeches by: Maurizio Pastore / Anna Marucci (Euronext), Michele Siri (Committee of Market Operators and Investors - COMI), Guglielmina Onofri (Consob), Manuela Carra (CDP), Stefano Vincenzi (Mediobanca).
Luca Iezzi (Head of the economic-financial editorial staff of la Repubblica) will moderate the event.
To participate in the event, which is intended primarily for industry professionals and companies wishing to address the capital market, you are necessarily required to send a request with your references to segr.DIE@consob.it .
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Published: 01/01/1970
Consob has ordered the black-out of 7 new websites that offer financial services/financial products illegally: 6 illegal financial intermediation websites and 1 website through which an offer of financial products is carried out in the absence of a prospectus.
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), relating to the black-out of the sites of abusive financial intermediaries, as well as of the power introduced by the Law no. 8 of 28 February 2020, Article no. 4, paragraph 3-bis, with reference to the black-out of the website through which the illegal offer is carried out.
Below are the websites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- "Mib40fx" (website https://mib40fx.com and related pages https://crm.mib40fx.com and https://trading.wbtplt03.com);
- Ai2Trade Ltd (website https://ai2trade.co.com and related pages https://panel.ai2trade.co.com and https://trading.ai2trade.co.com);
- "FCapital24" (website https://fcapital24.eu);
- "FX-FLAT" (website https://fx-flat.com and related page https://panel.fx-flat.com)
- Rounda Partners Limited (website https://isotrader.cc);
- "Free Trade CFD" (website https://free-tradecfd.com and related page https://client.free-tradecfd.com).
- "Realcapitallc" (website https://realcapitallc.co)
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 1042.
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 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, that a prospectus 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 abusive initiatives.
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Published: 01/01/1970
A new web page dedicated to the world of Prospectuses is available: application forms for approval, operational indications, applicable regulations, guidelines and guidance. All collected in one section (15 March 2024)
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Published: 01/01/1970
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The audit firms' control form on annual financial reports has been updated (5 March 2024)
Published: 01/01/1970
Consob requires audit firms to submit a control form, summarizing the main data and information acquired in the course of their statutory auditing activities. The control form consists of two documents: a general section and a summary overview (Communication No. 95002349 of 22 March 1995, as amended and supplemented).
As fixed in the most recent communication published on the subject on 15 March 2012, the signatory of the audit report must submit the aforementioned form to Consob by the 20th day following the date of issuance of the report on the statutory and consolidated financial statements (Communication No. 12019297of 15 March 2012).
The audit form has been updated and the new release is already available as of 5 March 2024, on Consob's website, in the "Operator Services/Interactive Services/Forms/Audit Firms" section of the website.
The update concerns the section referred to as "Other information" in the summary table. More specifically, the request enclosed in the sub-section on "Information regarding the possession of SME status" was eliminated, in order to adapt the form to the regulatory changes made to Article no. 2-ter of Consob Regulation No. 11971/1999 ("Issuers' Regulation").
In addition, the section was supplemented with the introduction of two new sub-sections related to (i) "Supervisory priorities and climate risk"; (ii) "Provisions of EU Delegated Regulation 2019/815."
The first sub-section introduced contains specific questions asking the auditor to indicate whether the impacts of climate risks on the financial statements and the supervisory priorities for financial reporting contained in the ESMA document "European common enforcement priorities" applicable to the reporting year of the audited financial statements have been deemed relevant by the Issuer (in accordance with IAS 1).
The questions in the second sub-section introduced relate to the fulfilments required of Issuers by the provisions of the EU Delegated Regulation 2019/815 of 17 December 2018 (European Single Electronic Format - ESEF Regulation), which introduced a single electronic reporting format for the annual financial reports of issuers listed on regulated markets in the EU. Specifically, the auditor is required to indicate whether the annual financial statements have been drafted in XHTML format, and whether the consolidated financial statements, in addition to being drafted in XHTML format, have been marked up in all significant features, in accordance with the provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/815.
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Published: 01/01/1970
"Think about a new legislative intervention to encourage the presence of women in companies even where there are no regulatory prescriptions," such as in the realm of unlisted companies.
This is the hope expressed by Consob Commissioner Gabriella Alemanno, who spoke today at the opening of the conference "Crystal Ceilings and Rubber Walls. Women's Leadership and Esg Mission," held this morning at Consob in Rome ahead of Women's Day, March 8.
The event was attended not only by the Deputy Minister of Economy, Maurizio Leo, but also by several female CEOs as well as sustainability leaders in some of Italy's leading companies.
The discussion revealed a unanimous consensus on the need to strengthen the presence of women at every company levels and to increase efforts in the areas of environmental/social sustainability and corporate governance.
The Golfo-Mosca law on gender balance in the corporate bodies of listed companies has yielded good results, Alemanno noted. In 2011, when the law went into effect, the presence of women was at 7 percent. Today, according to the latest Consob data, it is 43 percent of boards of directors and 41 percent of control bodies of listed companies.
Legislative intervention, she continued, has served to shatter glass ceilings at the top level, but "rubber walls" still remain at the lower levels in the form of the many invisible barriers that limit the empowerment of women.
The greater involvement of women has brought benefits, according to Alemanno, both in terms of corporate performance and in terms of attention to environmental and social sustainability issues, which have increasing relevance in investors' choices. The experience could, therefore, be extended to the unlisted world as well. And this is why the use of legal regulations could become useful again.
The challenges of sustainability place us "in front of an epochal change that requires an unprecedented commitment of the various actors in the system," concluded Consob Commissioner Chiara Mosca. "Consob," she added, "is given a key role in fostering through the capital market the channelling of private investment to support the ecological transition in Italy.
Video conference link https://youtu.be/QtpX1cBU0No
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Published: 01/01/1970
Consob has ordered the black-out of 6 new websites that offer financial services illegally abusively: 5 abusive financial intermediation sites and 1 site through which an offer of financial products is carried out in the absence of a prospectus.
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:
- Ether Limited (website https://ethertrader.cc and related page https://client.ethertrades.cc);
- Aegion Group Ltd (website www.safecap.io and related page https://client.safecap.io);
- Investment Analysts (website https://investment-analysts.co and related page https://client.investment-analysts.co);
- Fidelitycfd (website www.fidelitycfd.com and related page https://wt.fidelitycfd.com);
- Mex-Fx (website https://mex-fx.com and related page https://client.mex-fx.com);
- Ultraford (website https://ultraford.cc).
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 1035.
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 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, that a prospectus 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.
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Published: 01/01/1970
With the publication of the Fintech Research Paper Dimensionality reduction techniques to support insider trading detection, the study initiated by CONSOB in collaboration with the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa on the solutions that new technologies, AI-applications based, can offer to support market supervision is expanding. Specifically, the study - based on an anonymized dataset - addresses the problem of identifying potential cases of insider trading and proposes a different methodological approach than previous studies that have made use of unsupervised machine learning techniques: in this case, in fact, the technique of decomposition and subsequent reconstruction of a time series of data through "principal components" (PCA, Principal Component Analysis) is applied, in relation to the positions taken by groups of investors in a given stock in the vicinity of a price-sensitive event.