In brief
Sound remuneration policies: amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 285 (Circolare n. 285 del 17 dicembre 2013 «Disposizioni di Vigilanza per le banche» – 37° aggiornamento – Politiche e prassi di remunerazione e incentivazione nelle banche e nei gruppi bancari)
On 24 November 2021, the Bank of Italy issued an order concerning amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 285 of 17 December 2013 on “Supervisory provisions for banks” (the “Circular No. 285“). The amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 285 aim at aligning the Italian regulations with the latest EU legislative developments on sound remuneration policies and practices, in particular Directive (EU) 2019/878 of 20 May 2019 amending Directive 2013/36/EU as regards exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers and capital conservation measures (Capital Requirements Directive V) and the EBA (European Banking Authority) Guidelines on sound remuneration policies under Directive 2013/36/EU.
The amendments to the Circular No. 285 will enter into force on the fifteenth day as of their publication on the Official Journal of the Republic of Italy (Gazzetta Ufficiale), and they will be applicable to banks and parent companies of banking groups.
Securitization: Bank of Italy’s communication addressing risk profiles and supervisory guidelines (Servicers in operazioni di cartolarizzazione. Profili di rischiosità e linee di vigilanza)
On 11 November 2021, the Bank of Italy published a communication addressed to the servicers of securitization transactions, highlighting the main risks underlying the credit securitization industry and making recommendations on the measures to implement when performing servicing activities. The Bank of Italy warned market operators that their organization is often inadequate in relation to the ever-growing operational complexities, exposing servicers to operational and reputational risks. In particular, the authority identified several deficiencies in the control system and in the management of operational risks of servicers, as well as shortcomings in the relationships with special servicers, both during the initial assessment of the subjects and the ongoing monitoring of the recovery performance.
Furthermore, the Bank of Italy indicated the need to strengthen the on-going information flow on the securitization transactions performed by servicers, and for such a purpose addedded new templates to the existing information set to be periodically submitted to the Bank of Italy by servicers. One template refers to securitization transactions supported by public guarantees, while the other template refers to other securitization transactions. The templates will be submitted to the Bank of Italy using the INFOSTAT platform every six month, by the twentieth day after the reference date.
The first reference date for submission of the templates is set at 31 December 2021, with the deadline for the submission set at 20 January 2022.
IFRS: new provisions on the financial statements of non-banking intermediaries (Il bilancio degli intermediari IFRS diversi dagli intermediari bancari)
On 2 November 2021, the Bank of Italy issued the new version of the Provisions on the financial statements of IFRS intermediaries other than banking intermediaries (the “IFRS Provisions“). The IFRS Provisions are applicable to the financial statements for the year ending on 31 December 2021 or at a later date, and replace the previous Provisions on the financial statements of IFRS intermediaries other than banking intermediaries of 30 November 2018.
PSD2: Bank of Italy adheres to the EBA Guidelines on major incident reporting (Comunicazione del 29 ottobre 2021. Attuazione per i prestatori di servizi di pagamento degli Orientamenti aggiornati dell’EBA in materia di segnalazione dei gravi incidenti ai sensi della direttiva PSD2 (EBA/GL/2021/03)
On 29 October 2021, the Bank of Italy issued a notice announcing the full adherence of the Authority to the EBA Revised Guidelines on major incident reporting under PSD2 (EBA/GL/2021/03) (the “EBA Guidelines“). The EBA Guidelines provide for criteria to be used for the classification of major operational or security incidents, as well as the content, the form and the procedures for the communication of such incidents to the national supervisory authorities. The EBA Guidelines repeal and replace the EBA Guidelines on major incident reporting under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2) (EBA/GL/2017/10).
The EBA Guidelines will be applicable as of 1 January 2022.
Qualifying shareholdings: Bank of Italy’s provisions on the information and documents to be provided (Disposizioni di vigilanza della Banca d’Italia in materia di Informazioni e documenti da trasmettere alla Banca d’Italia nell’istanza di autorizzazione all’acquisto di una partecipazione qualificata)
On 28 October 2021, the Bank of Italy issued the Supervisory provisions on the information and documents to be submitted to the Bank of Italy with the application for the authorization to the purchase of a qualifying shareholdings (the “Bank of Italy’s Provisions“). The Bank of Italy’s Provisions are applicable to the applications for the authorization to the purchase of a qualifying shareholding in banks, financial holdings, mixed financial holdings, financial intermediaries, payment institutions, electronic money institutions, asset management companies, variable-capital investment companies and fixed-capital investment companies. The Bank of Italy’s Provisions transposes the European Supervisory Authorities’ Joint Guidelines for the prudential assessment of acquisitions of qualifying shareholdings.
The Bank of Italy’s Provisions will enter into force as of 1 April 2022, and will be applicable to the applications filed as of 1 April 2022. Therefore, as of 1 April 2022 the following provisions relating to the information to be provided to the Bank of Italy by shareholders will be repealed:
- Title II, Chapter 1, of the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 229 of 21 April 1999 and the Bank of Italy’s Order published on the Supervisory bulletin No. 8/2002, First Part, Chapter I;
- Title II, Chapter 2, Attachment A and Attachment C, of the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 288 of 2 April 2015;
- Attachments IV.1.2, IV.1.3, IV.1.4, IV.1.5, IV.1.6 and IV.1.7 to the Bank of Italy’s Regulation on the collective asset management.
The above mentioned provisions will still be applicable to the applications filed before 1 April 2022.
Supervisory reporting: amendments to several Bank of Italy’s Circulars
On 27 October, the Bank of Italy issued an order concerning amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 154 of 22 November 1991 on “Supervisory reporting of credit and financial institutions. Templates for the collection of data and instructions for the submission of information fluxes”.
On 26 October, the Bank of Italy issued orders concerning amendments to two Bank of Italy’s Circulars:
- Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 272 of 30 July 2008 on “Account matrix”, implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/379 of the European Central Bank of 22 January 2021, on the balance sheet items of credit institutions and of the monetary financial institutions sector (ECB/2021/2) and Regulation (EU) 2020/2011 of the European Central Bank of 1 December 2020 (ECB/2020/59), which amends Regulation (EU) No 1409/2013 on payments statistics (ECB/2013/43) (the “Payment Statistics Regulation“);
- Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 217 of 5 August 1996 on “Handbook for the fulfilment of the Supervisory Reports for financial intermediaries, payment institutions and electronic money institutions”, implementing the Payment Statistics Regulation and aligning the provisions of the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 217 on servicing with those of the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 272.
Risk central (Centrale dei rischi): update to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 139 of 11 February 1991 (Circolare n. 139 dell’11 febbraio 1991)
On 14 October 2021, the Bank of Italy issued orders concerning amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 139 of 11 February 1991 on Risk Central (Centrale dei rischi). In particular, these amendments relate to (i) a two years ban from requesting the data of the Risk Central in case of false declarations (the ban becomes permanent if the conduct is reiterated), (ii) the participation to the Risk Central of banks and financial intermediaries subject to compulsory liquidation (liquidazione coatta amministrativa) or voluntary liquidation, if the participation is necessary for the information needs of the Risk Central or for the proper functioning of the liquidation procedure, and (iii) the inclusion of additional entries.
The amendments to the Bank of Italy’s Circular No. 139 entered into force on 2 November 2021.
