Banks and other financial intermediaries

Banca d'Italia supervises the following categories of intermediaries:

• Banks and banking groups
• SIMs and SIM groups
• SGRs, SICAVs and SICAFs
• Electronic money institutions - EMIs
• Payment institutions
• Financial conglomerates
• Non-bank financial intermediaries
• Providers of crowdfunding services for business
• Entities operating in markets in crypto-assets (MiCA intermediaries)
• Credit servicers
• Microcredit companies

Banks and banking groups

In the Italian legal system, banking includes both the activity of collecting savings and liquid funds from the public and that of granting loans.

Banks collect savings and liquid funds as deposits or in other forms, with the obligation of reimbursement.

In line with European law, in addition to banking, banks may carry out all other kinds of financial activities, except for those that are reserved for other entities.

Banks may be part of banking groups. A banking group consists of a parent company and the banking, financial and ancillary companies that it controls. A parent company may be a bank or a financial company or a mixed financial holding company with headquarters in Italy.

SIMs and SIM groups

SIMs (securities investment firms) are investment firms authorized to carry out investment services or activities pursuant to the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF). Investment services and activities refer to the following functions, relating to financial instruments:

• dealing on own account
• execution of orders on behalf of customers
• underwriting and/or placement on a firm commitment basis or with the provision of a guarantee to the issuer
• placement not on a firm commitment basis nor with the provision of a guarantee to the issuer
• portfolio management
• reception and transmission of orders
• investment advice
• management of multilateral trading facilities.

SIMs are supervised by Banca d'Italia and CONSOB and are entered into a register held by the latter. In accordance with Article 11 of the TUF, SIM groups are entered into a register held by Banca d'Italia and are subject to consolidated supervision.

SGRs, SICAVs and SICAFs

SGRs (asset management companies) are joint stock companies that may provide collective and individual asset management services.

SGRs are authorized to:

• manage investment funds set up by SGRs and SICAV or SICAF assets
• provide portfolio management services
• provide investment advice
• receive and transmit orders, provided they are authorized to offer alternative investment fund (AIF) management services.

AIFs are funds that invest in financial instruments and real estate assets with a lower level of liquidity compared with other investment funds (undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities - UCITs).

SICAVs, or open-ended investment companies, and SICAFs, or fixed capital investment companies, are collective investment undertakings with a corporate form introduced into Italian law by Legislative Decree 84/1992 and Legislative Decree 44/2014, respectively, and are currently regulated by the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF). Investors in a SICAV's assets can redeem their investment at any time, whereas those who invest in a SICAF's assets are bound to keep their investment for the whole of the company's lifetime.

SGRs, SICAVs and SICAFs are supervised by Banca d'Italia and CONSOB and entered into specific registers held by Banca d'Italia: the SGR Register (Section for Managers of UCITs and Mangers of AIFs); the SICAV Register (UCIT and AIF Sections); and the SICAF Register.

Electronic money institutions - EMIs

These are companies other than banks that issue electronic money. They may also provide payment services under Article 1, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph b) of Legislative Decree 11/2010. They may provide financing only in relation to payment services that are not connected with the issuance of electronic money.

Payment institutions

Payment institutions are companies, other than banks and EMIs, which are authorized to provide payment services under Article 1, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph b) of Legislative Decree 11/2010.

Financial conglomerates

Financial conglomerates are groups of firms with significant operations in insurance and banking or in investment services, including at least one insurance company and one company operating either in the banking or the investment services sector, that have a regulated entity at their head or operate mainly in the financial sector.

Non-bank financial intermediaries

Financial intermediaries are entities other than banks allowed by Italian law to provide credit in a professional capacity in Italy. Their regulation is not harmonized at EU level. Therefore, mutual recognition at EU level is not permitted, with the exception of those entities controlled by EU banks (see Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Banking - TUB).

Based on the reform of Title V of the TUB, which came into effect on 11 July 2015, financial intermediaries are now authorized by Banca d'Italia to provide financing in any form - including the issue of guarantees - and are entered into a special register provided for by Article 106 of the TUB (as amended by Legislative Decree 141/2010, hereafter the 'new TUB'). Loan guarantee schemes ('Confidi') with business volumes of €150 million or more, securitization servicers, i.e. entities that collect transferred loans and provide cash and payment services pursuant to Law 130/1999, and fiduciary companies pursuant to Article 199 of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF) are entered into the same register.

Financial intermediaries (including pawnbrokers), loan guarantee schemes and securitization servicers entered into the register pursuant to Article 106 of the new TUB are subject to a prudential supervisory regime equivalent to that in place for banks, the aim of which is to ensure financial stability and sound and prudent management. It is organized according to the principle of proportionality to take into account the operational, size-related and organizational complexity of the intermediaries and the nature of their activities.

New provisions have been introduced to regulate financial groups subject to consolidated supervision. A financial group consists of one or more financial intermediaries, non-EU banks, financial companies and ancillary subsidiaries. The parent company of a financial group may be a financial intermediary or a financial company that directly or indirectly controls the other companies.

The reform repealed the previous system of control of financial intermediaries, which made a distinction, according to size, between those entered into the general register and subject to formal checks on registration requirements, and those entered into the special register and subject to prudential supervision. There was a suitable transition period for the changeover from the old to the new market structure, which ended on 12 May 2016. The requirements for the financial intermediaries affected by the reform were explained in a note to the financial intermediaries system.

As of 12 May 2016, financial intermediaries listed in the previous general and special registers may continue to provide financing to the public, as specified in the TUB and related implementing rules (see Ministerial Decree 53/2015). However, in order to do so, they must have applied for listing in the new register pursuant to Article 106 of the TUB within the time period indicated and begun, though not yet completed, the administrative procedures under Law 241/90. These entities are still subject to the rules and the implementing provisions (summarized here) of the old TUB, which have been repealed or replaced by Legislative Decree 141/2010, until they have been deleted from the old registers.

Legislative references for the reform can be found in Legislative Decree 141/2010, implementing Directive 48/2008/EC, Ministerial Decree 53/2015 and Banca d'Italia's Supervisory Instructions, Circular No. 288 of 3 April 2015.

Questions regarding the new legal framework should be sent to the following e-mail address: riforma.intermediari@bancaditalia.it. Banca d'Italia will publish the answers to the most frequently asked questions with explanatory notes, rather than answering queries individually.

Requests for entry into the register in accordance with Article 106 of the TUB must be forwarded by certified e-mail to ram@pec.bancaditalia.it.

Providers of crowdfunding services for business

Providers of crowdfunding services for business are authorized under Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, a.k.a. European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) Regulation, to offer the following services through a platform:

• lending-based crowdfunding;
• investment-based crowdfunding, i.e. placing, without firm commitment, transferable securities and instruments eligible for crowdfunding that are issued by project owners or special purpose vehicles, as well as receiving and transmitting client orders in respect of these transferable securities and instruments.

Crowdfunding services may be offered not only by specialized operators but also by banks, SIMs, payment institutions, e-money institutions and financial intermediaries within the meaning of Article 106 of the TUB, in addition to their core business.

Information on licensing procedures for the provision of crowdfunding services for business can be found in the dedicated section.

MiCA intermediaries

Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, a.k.a. Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation,introduced harmonized rules at European level for the issuance, offering to the public and admission to trading of certain crypto-assets and for the provision of related services by specifically authorized entities. Under the Regulation:

• the issuance and offering to the public of e-money tokens (EMTs) is reserved to banks and e-money institutions;
• the issuance and offering to the public of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) is reserved to banks and specialized issuers, as well as - in accordance with national legislation - to e-money institutions, payment institutions and SIMs, if expressly authorized;
• crypto-asset services can be provided by specialized crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) as well as by supervised entities - e.g. banks, SIMs, payment institutions, e-money institutions, asset management companies, central securities depositories, regulated market operators - subject to notification or authorization, in addition to their core business.

Information on market access for the provision of crypto-asset services can be found in the dedicated section.

Credit servicers

Directive (EU) 2021/2167 (Secondary Market Directive - SMD) introduced new harmonized rules for entities that purchase non-performing loans from banks established in the European Union (credit purchasers) and for those that carry out management and collection activities on their behalf (credit servicers) in order to promote the development of the secondary market for non-performing loans.

The SMD provides inter alia for: i) the liberalization of credit purchasing (only for loans classified as non-performing in Italy) and ii) the obligation for the purchaser to use in all cases a credit servicer, a new type of entity authorized and supervised by Banca d'Italia.

In accordance with the SMD, credit servicers can provide the following services:

• debt collection and recovery of payments due;
• renegotiation of contractual terms and conditions with the debtor, in line with the instructions given by the credit purchaser, provided that this does not amount to lending within the meaning of Article 106 of the TUB; early repayment and postponement of payment terms do not amount to lending for these purposes;
• handling of debtors' complaints concerning credit purchasers, credit servicers and entities to which business functions relating to the management of non-performing loans have been outsourced;
• informing the debtor of any changes in interest rates and charges or sending out payment notices.

Credit services can also be offered by banks, financial intermediaries pursuant to Article 106 of the TUB and investment fund managers, also in relation to the loans granted or purchased by them.

Information on licensing procedures for the provision of credit services can be found in the dedicated section.

Microcredit companies

The reform has identified a new category of financial intermediaries, known as microcredit companies. When these meet certain requirements, they can apply for listing in a register that is temporarily held by Banca d'Italia, until there are enough of them on the market to warrant the establishment of an official body to manage the register and exercise the associated powers of control.

Microcredit companies provide small amounts of financing to help borrowers start up or develop self-employment or micro-enterprise initiatives ('business microcredit') and to support individuals in particularly vulnerable financial or social conditions ('social microcredit'). The disbursement of funding must be accompanied by the provision of ancillary services during the preliminary assessment and the repayment period.

Ministerial Decree 176/2014 sets out the technical specifications, purposes and beneficiaries for each type of microcredit, as well as the requirements for listing in the register pursuant to Article 111 of the new Consolidated Law on Banking (TUB).

The provisions for entering microcredit companies into the register and managing the register were issued by Banca d'Italia on 3 June 2015. They govern registration procedures and terms as well as disclosure and reporting requirements for microcredit companies regarding the loans granted and the type of ancillary services provided.

Banca d'Italia has limited powers of control over microcredit companies. These powers are regulated by Article 113 of the new TUB and include the possibility to request information and documents, carry out inspections, prohibit new operations, force a reduction in assets and order the removal from the register under certain circumstances. There are no controls on sound and prudent management similar to those for banks and financial intermediaries, such as on the allocation of capital resources in relation to loans granted or the adequacy of the organizational framework for risk control.

Once a minimum number of operators have been registered, the law provides for the establishment of an ad hoc body to manage the register and exercise control, subject to Banca d'Italia's supervision.

According to Article 111 (5-bis) of the TUB, the term 'microcredit' applies only to loans with the characteristics listed in the TUB and in Ministerial Decree 176/2014, even when granted by banks or financial intermediaries.