PROVVEDIMENTO 23 dicembre 2022 : Regolamento in materia di vigilanza sulle SIM. (23A00037)

The following two provisions of the Bank of Italy have been published in the Official Journal, Gazzetta ufficiale, with regard to the regulation of investment firms:
1. The Provision of 23 December 2022 amending the Bank of Italy Regulation of 5 December 2019 implementing Articles 4-undecies and 6(1)(b) and (c-bis) of the Italian Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF), which mainly concern the rules applicable to SIMs (Società di Intermediazione Mobiliare) on corporate governance, remuneration and internal controls.
2. Regulation on the supervision of SIMs.
These measures aim to complete the national legislation transposing the European provisions laid down in Directive 2019/2034/EU and Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 and in order to adapt the national regulations to the regulatory technical standards and guidelines of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) on internal governance, remuneration policies, assessment of the suitability of members of the management body and key personnel and outsourcing to cloud service providers.
The Provision of 23 December 2022 amending the Bank of Italy Regulation implements new rules applicable to SIMs and groups of SIMs, introduced by the EBA Guidelines on remuneration policies (EBA/GL/2021/13) and corporate governance (EBA/GL/2021/14), respectively. The updated regulation also addresses the gender neutrality of remuneration policies, requiring SIMs to document the value of job positions to verify compliance with the principle of gender neutrality. The Bank of Italy clarifies that the establishment of a job classification system is not mandatory and intermediaries may identify alternative methods to ensure compliance with the objectives of the regulation.
With the Regulation on the supervision of SIMs, the Bank of Italy adapts the current regulatory framework for the supervision of SIMs to European provisions, updating and consolidating the multiple provisions in a new and specific Regulation, that is structured as follows:
– The introductory part, concerning definitions and the scope of application, identifies the target subjects.
– The first part, concerning the implementation of the IFD in Italy, reorganises the existing secondary legislation and deals with market access for SIMs (such as authorization), the prudential control process, public information, and additional supervisory provisions (including supervisory reporting and inspection obligations).
– The second part, concerning the application of the IFR in Italy, covers national options and discretions granted to the Bank of Italy by European legislation.
– The third part, concerning transitional and final provisions, defines the transitional regime for own funds and lists the provisions to be repealed.