Business licenses released by Bank of Italy

Business Activities subject to specific licensing

 

The Italian Central Ban (Banca d'Italia) issues market access authorizations to entities wishing to engage in banking and financial activities and who meet the legal requirements, including the application to open:

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• a new bank to collect public savings and provide credit: the Bank of Italy submits the request to the ECB; the process lasts 180 days;

• SIM (Società di intermediazione mobiliare, Securities Brokerage Companies) are authorized by Consob and the Bank of Italy and are subsequently subject to their supervision; SIMs are investment firms authorized to provide investment services or activities involving financial instruments, specifically:

• proprietary trading;

• execution of orders on behalf of customers;

• subscription and/or placement with a firm commitment or with a guarantee commitment towards the issuer;

• placement without a firm commitment or guarantee towards the issuer;

• portfolio management;

• receiving and transmitting orders;

• investment advice;

• management of multilateral trading facilities;

the process lasts 90 days;

• Financial Intermediary for the granting of financing in any form to the public; the process lasts 180 days;

• Consorzio Garanzia Collegio Fidi (Confidi) , a consortium or cooperative that provides guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help them access bank credit; the process lasts 180 days;

• Trust company that handles the custody and administration of assets entrusted by the trustors on the basis of a fiduciary mandate; the procedure lasts 180 days;

• Pawnbrokerage: provides short-term financing to individuals against the pledge of certain movable property; the process lasts 180 days;

• Microcredit providers provide small-scale financing along with ancillary services; the process lasts 90 days;

• Payment Institutions (PI) are businesses other than banks and electronic money institutions. PIs perform payment services and can also guarantee the execution of payment transactions, perform foreign exchange services, and perform data storage, recording, and processing activities . The procedure lasts 90 days.

• Electronic Money Institution (Istituto di Moneta Elettronica, IMEL) which can issue electronic money, provide payment services, grant financing, and provide crowdfunding services for businesses; it can issue, offer to the public, and request admission to trading of electronic money tokens ; the process lasts 90 days;

• Collective Investment Undertaking (Organismo di Investimento Collettivo del Risparmio, OICR): this activity can be carried out by SGR (Società di Gestione del Risparmio, Asset Management Company), SICAV (Società di Investimento a Capitale Variabile, Variable Capital Investment Company), and SICAF (Società di Investimento a Capitale Fisso, Fixed Capital Investment Company); SGRs, SICAVs, and SICAF  are subject to the supervision of the Bank of Italy and Consob (Commissione nazionale per le società e la borsa, National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange) . They obtain licenses from Consob and the Bank of Italy, and the licensing process takes 180 days.

• SGR (Asset Management Companies) are joint-stock companies that can carry out collective and individual asset management The activities carried out by an SGR include:

• management of mutual funds of its own establishment and assets of SICAVs or SICAFs;

• portfolio management;

• investment advice;

• reception and transmission of orders, if authorised to provide the management service of Alternative Investment Funds, Fondi di investimento alternativi (FIA), the FIA are mutual funds that invest in financial instruments and real estate assets characterised by a lower degree of liquidity than other mutual investment funds (Organismi di Investimento Collettivo in Valori Mobiliari, OICVM; Entites for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities);

• SICAV and investors in the assets of a SICAV can obtain reimbursement of their investment at any time; investors in the assets of a SICAF are required to maintain their investment for the entire duration of the company.

• companies issuing tokens linked to asset-related assets Referenced Tokens (ART) through public offering; ART-linked tokens are crypto-assets, other than electronic money tokens (EMT), they aim to maintain a stable value by referencing another value or right or a combination of the two, including one or more official currencies; the license is issued by Consob and the Bank of Italy within 105 working days and can be obtained from:

• legal persons or companies established in the European Union already authorised in another EU country;

• banks and SIMs;

• IP, IMEL, SIM and crypto-asset service providers;

• Non-performing loan management companies (NPL ) are considered such if they are granted by banks and other entities authorized to grant financing that are not repaid within the agreed timeframes. The license is issued by the Bank of Italy within 90 days.