Regolamento sull’emissione e circolazione in forma digitale di strumenti finanziari – Documento per la consultazione (10 luglio 2023)

The Consob has initiated a 30-day public consultation with the market on the Regulation concerning the „Fintech decree“.
The FinTech decree introduced a new form and circulation regime for certain financial instruments, recognising the possibility of using DLT for their issuance and transfer, please note also EventID#21152. The FinTech decree represents the necessary national complement to the European Pilot Regime Regulation.
However, the use of digital form for financial instruments not intended for trading on an MiFID trading venueis excluded from the scope of the Pilot Regime Regulation. According to national regulation, it is required that the respective issuance take place on registers for digital circulation kept by registry keepers registered in a specific list maintained by the Consob.
Under the FinTech decree, traditional financial intermediaries, as well as financial instrument issuers themselves, and new operators specialised in this activity, can qualify as registry keepers.
With the draft Regulation being consulted, the Consob intends to regulate the registration and cancellation from the list of registry keepers for digital circulation.
The draft Regulation also establishes minimum information requirements regarding the document containing the operational modalities of the register and measures to protect its functioning. Each registry keeper must make this document available to the public in an accessible electronic form at all times. The aim is to make the ordinary registration regime fully operational from the outset.
The FinTech decree grants the Consob further regulatory powers, sometimes to be exercised in agreement with the Bank of Italy. Due to the innovative nature of the matter to be regulated and considering what is provided by the decree regarding the procedure for adopting regulatory measures, the Consob plans to exercise these powers in multiple phases.
In particular, once the Regulation being consulted is finalised, the Consob will assess the exercise of additional regulatory powers. This may allow for the modulation of the objective scope of primary legislation, taking into account use cases and market needs emerging from practice, and the establishment of implementation measures for the decree’s provisions to ensure uniformity and certainty of applied practices among operators.
Contributions to the consultation should be submitted by 9 August 2023 via the online form: https://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/invio-osservazioni.