The number of websites blacked out since July 2019 has thus risen to 898.
(Only in Italian)
Published in the Official Journal No. 121 of 25 May 2023 the Provision of 12 May 2023 of the Financial Intelligence Unit for Italy (FIU) issuing the new anomaly indicators for the detection of suspicious transactions for anti-money laundering purposes.
I nuovi indicatori dell’UIF entreranno in vigore dal 1° gennaio 2024. Dalla stessa data, non saranno più applicabili i precedenti indicatori e schemi di anomalia emessi dall’UIF e individuati all’articolo 7 del provvedimento.
The report finds that while this past year has been turbulent for cryptos and DeFi, the impact on the financial system was limited. The crypto market has few interlinkages with the traditional financial sector and the real economy, and none of those links are currently significant.
However, given the exponential growth and high volatility of cryptos, they need to be closely monitored as they may come to pose systemic risks. These risks could materialise if, for example, interconnectedness with the traditional financial system increases over time, new connections are not promptly identified, or if similar innovations – such as distributed ledger technology – are also widely adopted in traditional finance.
To better understand developments in crypto-assets and their potential financial stability implications, the report proposes a number of policy options.
First, the EU’s capacity to monitor potential contagion channels should be improved. This applies both to channels between the crypto sector and traditional finance, and to channels within the crypto sector.
To this end, it is key to promote standardised reporting and disclosure requirements for:
  • traditional financial sector institutions such as banks that are exposed to cryptos;
  • investment funds with crypto exposures; and
  • entities such as stablecoin issuers or e-wallet service providers in the crypto sector.
Second, the report considers policy options to address risks arising from crypto conglomerates, crypto-based leverage, novel operational challenges, DeFi and crypto staking and lending.

ESMA has issued a public statement to warn investors of risks that arise when investment firms offer both regulated and unregulated products and/or services.

Retail investors often rely solely on the reputation of an investment firm which makes them susceptible to overlooking potential risks of the unregulated products and/or services offered by investment firms (‘halo effect’). This is especially so where the unregulated products have a purpose similar to financial instruments regulated under MiFID II (investment or hedge).
ESMA’s statement therefore aims to remind firms of the behaviours they are expected to adopt in such circumstances (e.g. disclosure, appropriate documentation) to make investors fully aware of the unregulated status of these products and services and of the fact that they may not benefit from the regulatory protections that apply to investments in a regulated product.
In addition, ESMA recommends investment firms take into consideration the impact that their unregulated activities may have on the firm’s business activity as a whole when it comes to risk management systems and policies.
These final draft RTS aim to help market participants make informed decisions about the sustainability impact of their investments.
The key proposals included in the technical standards specify ESG disclosures which would apply to STS securitisations where the underlying exposures are residential loans, auto loans and leases.
These technical standards aim to ensure consistency with those developed under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) which distinguish between the publication of available information on mandatory indicators (e.g., energy efficiency) and on additional indicators (e.g., emissions).
The proposed amendments reflect the outcome of a monitoring exercise on the adequacy of existing mappings, namely those to the credit quality steps (CQS) allocation for four ECAIs and the introduction of new credit rating scales for seven ECAIs as well as the withdrawal of the registration of one ECAI.
The consultation will end on 26 June 2023.