Le imprese di investimento

The crucial issues of financial regulation are market confidence and management credibility because one of the principal factors for the growth of the financial markets is the integrity and competence of its members. In addition, the central question is how to reduce informational asymmetry in the financial sector and between market participants. In other words, market credibility can be measured in terms of intermediaries’ accountability, not only from the point of view of the suitability of market actors, but also of effective enforcement. Recently, technological innovation and the transformation of the financial markets have brought about huge changes in terms of regulation. In the Italian legal system, Art. 47 of Constitution governs the constitutional principle of the protection of savings and the institutional function of the granting of credit. At the European level, the practical implementation of the legal basis for proper consumer protection is to be found in the investment services reform enshrined in MiFID Directive. The Directive is intended to reduce the transaction costs of trading securities; substantially, this objective is achieved by allowing trading to take place outside regulated exchanges and among Member States by awarding investment firms permits or passports to trade. In this context, particular attention must be paid to the information gap to which business transactions are generally subject; the imbalanced relationship between managers and investors is principally determined by lack of financial knowledge and causes a distortion of consumers’ choices, particularly at the time when the investment operation is executed. Obviously, members’ reputation represents a chief factor in enhancing market confidence, because it is only if there is clear accountability between participants that it will be possible to rebuild a fiduciary relationship in the financial markets. But market confidence could be achieved through the new investment advice provisions (“consulenza finanziaria”) enshrined in the MiFID Directive. In this context, the provision of investment advice - defined as personal recommendations to a client - is regarded as ancillary to the performance of the business operation; in the Italian legal system, Articles 18, 18-bis and 18-ter, of the Financial Law of 1998 (“Testo unico sull’intermediazione finanziaria”) provide the legal framework of investment advice regime.