The special section of the Registry of Moneychangers held by the OAM, to which providers of services related to the use of virtual currency and digital wallet services operating in Italy must register, will be operational by 18 May. OAM specifies this in the light of the publication in the Official Gazette of the relevant ministerial decree. All subjects who are already operating, also on-line, at the date of the opening of the Register, and in possession of the legal requirements (art.17-bis, paragraph 2, of Legislative Decree 141/2010), will have 60 days from that date to communicate their operations in Italy and continue to exercise their activity without having to wait for the OAM ruling on the enrolment in the Register. In the event of failure to meet the above deadline, or refusal to register by the Body, any pursuit of business activity will be considered abusive.
On the other hand, subjects not yet operating at the date of opening of the Registry will have to communicate their intention to operate in Italy, complying with the regulatory requirements mentioned above, and wait for the pronouncement of the Body in order to be able to operate legally in Italy.
The Body will have 15 days to verify the regularity and completeness of the communication and the attached documentation and to approve or deny registration. The 15-day period may be suspended once, for a maximum of 10 days if OAM considers that the communication is incomplete or needs to be supplemented.
OAM will have to ensure the clarity, completeness and public accessibility of the data reported in the Special Section of the Registry of Moneychangers in which it will be noted among other things the last and first name of the provider of services related to the use of virtual currency or the provider of digital wallet services who is a natural person, or the company name and the registered office or the headquarters of the permanent establishment in the territory of the Republic in the case of a subject other than a natural person; the indication of the type of service provided, the address of the physical points of operation, including any automatic teller machines (ATM), and/or the web address through which the service is carried out.
The OAM will provide, upon request, any information and documentation held in light of the management of the Special Section of the Register to all institutional subjects involved in the fight against money laundering and to the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate. Among the data that may be requested are those relating to operations carried out by registered subjects in the territory of the Italian Republic: identification data of the client, summary data relating to the overall operations of each service provider relating to the use of virtual currencies and electronic wallet service provider for each individual client.
Rome, 18 February 2022
As of today, the List for European intermediaries operating in real estate credit to consumers who carry out activities in Italy, even without having a branch, is operational on the institutional website of the OAM.
Coinciding with the entry into force of European Law 2019-2020, which introduces the European Passport, the Body has made available a special List that will be progressively 'populated' once the Authority of the Member State of origin communicates the subjects qualified to operate in the country of origin and interested in the Italian market.
OAM will have one month to proceed with the registration. Regarding on the other hand credit intermediation activities other than real estate credit to consumers, OAM will inform subjects across borders of the conditions for performing their working activity in Italy.
Italian intermediaries who carry out, or wish to carry out, activities in the field of real estate credit to consumers in other countries, will have to communicate this to the OAM, which will inform the relevant authority of the other Member State within one month. As of today, those registered may make use of a form available in the reserved area through which one may indicate the countries in which they intend to operate.
Rome, 1 February 2022
OAM in the field also in order to introduce young people to the profession of credit intermediary
Especially at a time of economic difficulty, those in need of liquidity must rely exclusively on properly authorized financial operators, in order to avoid incurring in wrong transactions, if not in frauds. For this reason, OAM, the Body of Financial Agents and Credit Brokers, chaired by Antonio Catricalà, has launched an information campaign.
The focus of the campaign is the statement: “Loans are not all equal”.
The objective is to make people understand the importance of relying only on agents and brokers registered with the OAM in order to avoid the risk of ending up in the hands of a credit fraudster, with potentially very serious consequences.
"In this moment - underlines the general director Federico Luchetti - the crisis has worsened the economic conditions of families and enterprises, often there is the need to have liquidity and it is easy that not qualified people approach families and operators promising loans that are not feasible or that, if obtained, cannot be returned. On the other hand, it is absolutely necessary for the consumer to check that those with whom he comes into contact are Financial Agents or Credit Brokers, registered with the Body. Those who are registered possess the necessary requisites of professionalism and integrity and are able to help the consumer to make choices that will be sustainable over time".
In order to carry out a check on qualified operators it is sufficient to visit the OAM website (www.organismo-am.it) and carry out a search: in just a few seconds it is possible to verify whether the operator is registered and qualified to exercise the profession. In this way the professionalism and correctness of the Agent or Broker will be guaranteed.
The campaign, however, is not only aimed at consumers but also at young people who are attracted by the profession of credit intermediary and want to start this path. "The world of credit needs talent. Yours.", is the slogan OAM uses to promote this job opportunity.
Those who wish to take their first steps in the world of credit intermediation, a sector that is destined to grow, have two alternative paths in front of them. If they want to become Collaborators of a person who carries out the activity of a Financial agent registered with the OAM, they must pass an "examination test". If, on the other hand, they are interested in entering more structured realities, such as Financial Business Agents or Credit Brokers operating as corporations, they must take the "assessment test".
OAM has more than 20 thousand members, including Agents, Credit Brokers and Collaborators. In 2019, the overall activity of the sector showed a marked progress: the mandates result in a total of 25,873 with an important increase of 3,241 units (+14%), tripling what was already recorded at the end of 2018 (+5%). As for the supervisory activity, in 2019 there were 7,698 controls, with 596 sanctioning measures.
Rome, June 15th, 2020