ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Emidio Cacciapuoti, Giorgio Bobba and Davide Massiglia, ADVANT Nctm
2.3.11 Approach of the Regulator In the last few years, the attitude of the Italian regulators (the Bank of Italy and CONSOB) has been moving towards a bespoke approach, whereby AIFMs are encouraged to reasonably direct any questions to the relevant authority in order to clear up any issues or doubts while interpreting a specific regulation. It is very com - mon for each AIFM to have a dedicated indi - vidual within the authority for ordinary matters; recurrent face-to-face meetings (usually on a yearly basis) are encouraged by the Bank of Italy to update on current activity and present any further initiatives. 2.4 Operational Requirements Applicable regulations impose on each AIFM the obligation to appoint a single custodian for the assets of each managed AIF. The role of cus - todian may be carried out by regulated entities only, such as Italian banks, Italian branches of foreign banks, Italian investment firms and Italian branches of foreign investment firms. The depositary performs the custodian duties of financial instruments in its custody, and verifies the property and the registration of other assets. The depositary also holds the liquid assets of the AIF. In the performance of its duties, the deposi - tary: • verifies the legitimacy of the disposal, issu - ance, repurchase, reimbursement and annul - ment of the units/shares of the fund, as well as the distribution of the proceeds to inves - tors; • verifies the accuracy of the calculation of the value of the units/shares; • verifies, in operations relative to the fund, that the counter-obligation is fulfilled within the established terms;
applicable to sub-threshold Italian AIFMs. Retail clients subscribing to units/shares of a reserved AIF should be given the key investor document (KID), pursuant to the PRIIPs regulations, by the AIFM before the relevant subscription. The marketing of an AIF by an EU AIFM is sub - ject to the provisions of the relevant member state, and the marketing of the relevant units/ shares should be preceded by a communication from the member state’s supervisory authority to CONSOB. 2.3.9 Post-Marketing Ongoing Requirements For relevant modifications to the information and documents provided to CONSOB in the notifica - tion of the marketing of AIFs described in 2.3.8 Marketing Authorisation/Notification Process , the AIFM must communicate the modifications to CONSOB at least 30 days before entry into force or, in the case of modifications which can - not be planned in advance, as soon as they are issued. CONSOB immediately transmits to the Bank of Italy the information contained in the notification and the documents attached. Within 15 business days of receiving the communica - tion, CONSOB and the Bank of Italy may, within the scope of their respective competence, ban the modification. 2.3.10 Investor Protection Rules Except for the marketing restrictions indicated earlier in 2.3 Regulatory Environment , no fur- ther restrictions apply to investors, depending on the type of AIF. Certain internal regulatory requirements might apply to certain investors whose activity is, in turn, regulated and sub - ject to supervision by the competent authorities (such as banks, insurance companies and pen - sion funds).
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