Thanks to this initiative, for the first time Italy has a regulatory sandbox, a protected space dedicated to digital experimentation in the banking, finance and insurance sectors. The experimentation will allow FinTech operators to test innovative solutions, benefiting from a simplified transitional regime and in constant dialogue with the supervisory authorities: Bank of Italy, Consob, IVASS. At the same time, the authorities responsible for regulation will be able to observe the dynamics of technological development and identify the most appropriate and effective regulatory interventions to facilitate the development of FinTech, limiting the spread of potential risks from the outset.
In order to access the trial, operators will have to submit to the relevant supervisory authority projects relating to services, products or processes that are innovative in the banking, financial or insurance sector and that bring benefits to end users or contribute to market efficiency. Projects should be sufficiently advanced for testing and economically and financially sustainable.
The three Authorities will provide indications aimed at specifying the criteria for admission to the experimentation established by the decree and, in addition, by the month of September they will determine the time window for sending the requests for admission to the sandbox.
Once the preliminary phase of the applications has been completed, the official register of the operators admitted to the experimentation will be published on the website of the Treasury Department.
(Only in Italian)
L’IVASS con la Lettera al mercato del 16 luglio 2021 richiede a imprese e rappresentanze che operano in Italia nei rami vita: di comunicare all’IVASS in ogni caso un insieme strutturato di informazioni riferite all’esercizio 2020; di aggiornare e comunicare la propria autovalutazione dei rischi di riciclaggio e di finanziamento del terrorismo cui le stesse sono esposte, soltanto se il profilo di rischio è significativamente variato rispetto a quello riferito all’esercizio 2019.
(Only in Italian)
L’IVASS con la Lettera al mercato del 16 luglio 2021 richiede alle imprese estere che operano in Italia nei rami vita in libera prestazione di servizi di comunicare all’IVASS entro il 30 settembre 2021 le informazioni standardizzate riferite all’esercizio 2020, contenute nella sezione V del Regolamento IVASS (scomposizione per singolo intermediario assicurativo concernente i premi lordi contabilizzati nel 2020).
The report contains recommendations to improve the authorisation process for CSDs to provide banking type ancillary services themselves and, in addition, includes some proposals to facilitate the provision of banking type ancillary services by non-bank CSDs, in particular to allow them to offer foreign exchange settlement services.
ESMA’s recommendations will provide information for the ongoing targeted review of CSDR by the European Commission, which has identified the facilitation of the provision of bank-like ancillary services as a key policy priority.
EBA has launched a public consultation on amendments to its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on currencies with liquid asset holdings constraints in the context of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR).The proposed amendments remove the Norwegian krone (NOK) from the list, with the result that no currency will be recognised as having liquidity constraints. The consultation is valid until 16 October 2021.
The EBA was also mandated to amend the existing Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the use of derogations and the conditions of their application, Delegated Regulation 2016/709, following the addition of a new derogation, with a concomitant need to update the corresponding ITS on the actual list of currencies subject to constraints, which currently consists of a single currency, the NOK.
In addition, ICMA has provided a number of recommendations related to:
- EU Green Bond Standards;
- Green disclosure;
- ESG rating.
