Orientamenti di vigilanza della Banca d’Italia in materia di fornitori specializzati di servizi di crowdfunding

The Bank of Italy has launched a public consultation on the new supervisory guidelines for specialized crowdfunding service providers. The guidelines indicate the Bank of Italy’s expectations on how these providers should comply with the provisions on corporate governance, internal controls, suitability assessment of executives, and due diligence on project owners contained in Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 (ECSPR) and the related delegated regulations, taking into account the principles of proportionality based on their size and operational complexity.
The Crowdfunding Regulation establishes a new category of specialized crowdfunding service providers, which are supervised intermediaries that must obtain specific authorization to engage in crowdfunding activities. The same authorization requirement applies to other intermediaries, such as banks, investment firms, payment and electronic money institutions, and financial intermediaries under Article 106 TUB, if they intend to directly operate a crowdfunding platform alongside their typical activities.
At the national level, the ECSPR has been implemented through Legislative Decree No. 30 of 10 March 2023, amending the TUF.
The guidelines are not binding. However, if providers adopt measures that differ from those indicated in the guidelines, they are required to communicate this to Bank of Italy when submitting their authorization request and subsequently during periodic reporting to the supervisory authority by submitting a report on their organizational structure.