(Only in Italian)
Nel corso della sua audizione, Luigi Federico Signorini ha fornito ulteriori elementi per chiarire e inquadrare correttamente il ruolo che la Banca d’Italia ha svolto nella vicenda “diamanti”, cioè della segnalazione alla clientela, da parte delle banche, della possibilità di acquisto di diamanti, presso i propri sportelli, da società terze specializzate.
The ECB welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to extend traceability requirements to crypto-assets by means of the proposed regulation, which forms part of the Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) package adopted by the Commission on 20 July 2020.
Since crypto-asset transfers are subject to similar money laundering and terrorism financing risks as wire funds transfers, crypto-asset service providers should be subject to the same level of AML/CFT requirements as other obliged entities. The ECB therefore welcomes the proposed regulation as a means of levelling the playing field for crypto-asset service providers.
The ECB welcomes the proposed alignment of the EU legal framework with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, in particular Recommendation 16, as it further mitigates AML/CFT risks associated with cryptoasset transfers, thereby establishing a level playing field between transfers in official currencies and transfers in cryptoassets to prevent the misuse of crypto-assets for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. While a level playing field should be achieved in terms of the intensity of AML/CFT requirements applicable to crypto-asset service providers, the specific requirements should capture the risks associated with the technological features of crypto-assets and crypto-asset transfers. For instance, requirements regarding the traceability of crypto-asset transfers should take into account the specific features of the technologies underlying these transfers.
For the purposes of effective mitigation of AML/CFT risks, the proposed regulation should be clarified to avoid any doubt that transactions between hosted and unhosted wallets are covered, with the effect that exactly the same information as for other crypto-asset transfers must to be collected and stored.
This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and shall apply from 1 July 2022. It shall expire on 30 June 2025.
The CSA will be conducted during 2022.
This action will allow ESMA and the NCAs to assess the application by firms of the MiFID II requirements on costs and charges. The focus of the CSA will be on information provided to retail clients. NCAs, in particular, will review how firms ensure that these disclosures:
- are provided to clients in a timely manner;
- are fair, clear and not misleading;
- are based on accurate data reflecting all explicit and implicit costs and charges; and
- adequately disclose inducements.
ESMA has published a series of Q&As on this subject, and these will serve as input to this CSA.
