Investor requirements

Institutional investors (professionals by law):​

• entities that are required to be authorised or regulated to operate in financial markets, whether Italian or foreign, such as:  

  • banks; 

  • investment firms; 

  • other authorised or regulated financial institutions; 

  • insurance companies; 

  • undertakings for collective investment and management companies of such undertakings; 

  • pension funds and management companies of such funds; 

  • traders in commodities and commodity derivatives acting on their own behalf; 

  • parties who trade exclusively on their own behalf on financial instruments markets and who subscribe indirectly to liquidation services, as well as to clearing and guarantee system (locals); 

  • other institutional investors; 

  • stockbrokers. 

• large companies that possess, as a single company, at least two of the following dimensional requirements:  

  • balance sheet total: EUR 20,000,000; 

  • net turnover: EUR 40,000,000; 

  • own funds: EUR 2,000,000.  

• institutional investors whose main activity is to invest in financial instruments, including entities dedicated to the securitisation of assets or other financial transactions. 

 

Elective professional investors: 

The status of professional client must be proved by a certification issued by your bank or intermediary, and it is granted to those who meet at least two of the following requirements: 

  • the client has carried out transactions of significant size on the market in question with an average frequency of 10 transactions per quarter in the past four quarters;  

  • the client has a portfolio of financial instruments, including cash deposits, in excess of EUR 500,000;  

  • the client works or has worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position that requires knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged.  

Clients may apply to their bank/intermediary for certification as a professional client only with respect to investment services related to the crowdfunding sector, in order to maintain the protections typically provided for retail clients for all other investment services provided by their bank/intermediary. 

 

Investors supporting small and medium-sized enterprises 

This is a category provided for by the Consob regulation on crowdfunding, which establishes the following requirements, which must be duly verified by the portal’s operator: 

  • the client has a portfolio of financial instruments, including cash deposits, in excess of EUR 500,000;  

  • the client meets the respectability requirements provided for in Article 8, paragraph 1 of the Consob regulation on crowdfunding; 

  • also, alternatively: 

  • the client has carried out, in the last two years, at least 3 (three) investments in share capital or by way of shareholder financing in small and medium-sized enterprises, each investment in the amount of at least EUR 15,000.00 (fifteen thousand/00); or 

  • the client has held, for at least 12 (twelve) months, the position of executive director in small and medium-sized enterprises other than the bidding company.  

 

NOTE: For legal entities, the Regulation requires that the assessment of the above requirements is conducted with respect to the person authorised to carry out transactions on their behalf and/or the legal person itself.