Service to transfer securities in safekeeping
The service to transfer securities in safekeeping is aimed at allowing customers to turn to a new bank so that the latter may assume the obligations necessary to transfer the financial instruments contained in the dossier held at the old bank. This project falls within the sector’s plan of action to enhance the relations between banks and retail customers, approved by the Executive Committee of ABI. The value added by the TDT service with respect to the procedure in use today consists in activating the service in a simple manner at the new bank, guaranteeing transparency to the customers on the rules and regulations governing the transfer, promoting a reduction in the time needed for the transfer, guaranteeing the traceability of the underlying procedures thanks to a standardized and electronic management at the inter-bank level.
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Retail financial services
European Commission green paper (30 April 2007)
The Commission is currently reviewing the single market to ensure its policies are fit for the 21st century. The interim report to the Spring European Council outlines the new approach to using single market instruments, and focuses on enhancing consumer welfare.
• Green paper >>
• ABI' remarks >>
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Asset management
With respect to asset management, the Department has focused its activities on monitoring Italian and Community law on products, prospectuses and the distribution modalities of collective asset management institutions. Specifically, the retail finance sector follows at the community level, the procedure to modify the UCITS Directive and at a national level, the supervisory authority’s initiatives to amend Italian law on offering documents of mutual funds and actions by the authority aimed at improving the asset management sector in Italy.
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Supplementary pension schemes
With respect to supplementary pension schemes, the Retail Finance Department monitors the laws on the general conditions of pensions and carries out interventions aimed at having laws enacted able to develop business, to reduce existing comparative disparity between the different pension schemes, to provide education on pension schemes and define guidelines on the management of transferring individual pension positions in order to standardize the procedure and to limit, to the extent possible, the time needed for the transfer.
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MiFID level 3: rules of conduct
This Department activity aims at monitoring the definition of level 3 rules (national and Community) by competent Authorities. This is meant to be done by analyzing legislation and participating in the relevant consultations, aimed at achieving a consensus from the Industry on the definition of the standard of conduct of operators, in order to substantively implement the principles of the MiFID. The level 3 regulations have the goal of facilitating the consistent and uniform application of community legislation, by providing, in particular, a clarification on the impact of the new rules and regulations in order to resolve interpretation issues.
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Guide to reading prospectuses
The objective of this initiative is to define "A guide to reading prospectuses" addressed to retail investors. Specifically, this guide hopes to make it easier for retail investors to read a prospectus, highlighting, amongst the information contained, the most important sections. The guide does not intend to “select” parts of the offering documents to be read, therefore advising against reading of other parts, but it is only designed to underscore the most important parts the investor should focus on when weighing the offer.
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Financial planners
The objective of this initiative is to present proposals on how to resolve the issues concerning amending the rules on the conduct of financial planners. As part of this activity, an on going examination of the legal framework as well as consultation with the leading operators in the sector to identify new scenarios created by the new framework and the issues that need more attention.
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Guide to providing consultancy services to retail investors
The objective of this initiative is to draft a “Guide to providing consultancy services to retail investors" which is designed to provide an immediate overview on consultancy service post-MiFID, on its legal classification and its operational characteristics. This initiative is composed of drafting a standard text with sufficiently clear and direct language for retail customers and the preceding set of meetings with banks, aimed at collecting opinions, remarks and agreement from the industry.
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