PSPs and IEMLS in Italy | Now LIVE, the OAM Register for Contracting Parties and Agents
Published on 5th Jul 2023
With the last amendments to anti-money laundering legislation, more specifically to article 45 of Legislative Decree 231/2007 (the AML Decree), as brought about by Legislative Decree 90/2017, the Italian legislator obliged "entities licensed to provide payment services" – i.e. payment service providers (PSPs) and electronic money institutions (IMELs) and their branches, including those with registered offices in another EU Member State acting in Italy through a central point of contact – to enroll in a register, to be created by the OAM (Organismo per la gestione degli elenchi degli agenti in attività finanziaria e dei mediatori creditizi), for the recording of the relevant contracting parties and agent.
The said Register was finally opened by the OAM, effective as of 3 July 2023. New reporting obligations become therefore applicable as of this date.
Subjects involved and action to be taken
Subjects involved
The enrollment and reporting obligations deriving from article 45 of the AML Decree are applicable to:
- PSPs and IMELs, even when they operate in Italy through a branch, included those entities that have their registered office and administrative headquarters abroad and have set up a central contact point in Italy. , The central contact point, pursuant to article 2(2) lett. ii) and article 43 of the AML Decree, is the entity or facility that those entities operating in Italy through contracting parties or agent under the freedom to provide services regime and without a branch shall here establish, in order to fulfil their AML obligations. Furthermore, the same obligations are also applicable - as specified by OAM Circular 47/23 - to credit institutions providing in Italy the services provided by PSPs and IMELs;
- when they resort, for the exercise of their activities in Italy, to contracting parties and agents - meaning "contracting operators or agents, however denominated, other than agents in financial activities registered in the list referred to in article 128-quater, paragraphs 2 and 6, TUB (legislative decree n. 385/1993), which PSPs and IEMLs, including those having their registered office and central administration in another Member State, resort to for the exercise of their activities in the territory of the Italian Republic". For the sake of clarity, agents in financial activities pursuant to article 128-quarter TUB are agents who promote and conclude contracts relating to the granting of loans in any form or who provide payment services, on the direct mandate either of financial intermediaries under Title V of the same TUB, or payment institutions, electronic money institutions, banks or Poste Italiane; they are enrolled in a specific register.
Relevant data
In particular, data to be added to the Register include:
- data allowing the identification of the entity licensed to provide payment services;
- data allowing the identification of the contracting party or agent;
- the date of commencement of the contractual or mandate relationship between the licensed entity and the contracting party or agent; and
- the specific indication that the entity, through the contracting party or agent, provides money remittance services.
Due date
As set forth in the Decree issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on 31 May 2022, the communication of such data must be made on a six-monthly basis, from 1 to 15 January and from 1 to 15 July of any each year, giving evidence of the changes that have occurred with respect to the communication relating to the previous six month period.
Since the register becomes effective as of 3 July 2023, at the time of first application, the licensed entities are therefore required to timely apply for the registration with the Register (which the OAM is expected to accept and complete within a maximum term of 15 days), and promptly enter the required data.
Technical measures
The OAM website details technical specifications relating to the registration, accreditation and consultation procedures, by means of the publication of a User Manual, a Guide for Registration to the OAM portal, and Technical Notes for the forwarding of data, every six months, to the OAM.
A Communication Form is also available to licensed entities which have established a central contact point in Italy, in order to complete the registration process: ad hoc rules, in fact, are specifically set out for this purpose.
Termination of relationship for non-commercial reasons
Additional obligations to those of data entry in the Register also apply in the event of termination of the contractual relationship (or of the mandate) for non-commercial reasons, occurring after the activation of the Register. In this case, the licensed entity is obliged to do so within 30 days of the termination of the mandate/agreement relationship with the contracting party/agent.
Sanctions
Failure to communicate data and enter them on the Register entails the initiation of the sanctioning procedure for the application of the sanctions provided for in article 61(2) of Legislative Decree no. 231/2007, i.e. a fine of €4,500 (tripled in the event of serious, repeated or systematic or multiple breaches, it being on the contrary provided that, if the communication is made within 30 days of the expiry of the prescribed time limit, the fine sanction is reduced by one third).
