Arbitrator for Financial Disputes

With resolution no. 19602 of May 4, 2016, Consob established the Arbitrator for Financial Disputes (“ACF“) and regulated the scope of operations, structure and procedure of the ACF with regulation implementing article 2, paragraphs 5- bis and 5-ter, of the legislative decree 8 October 2007, n. 179 (the “Regulations“).

Synergo SGR S.p.A. (“Synergo SGR“) adheres to the ACF.

The following sets out key information on the the ACF:

  1. The ACF is competent for disputes:
    • between retail investors and intermediaries (in this case, Synergo SGR);
    • relating to the breach by intermediaries of their obligations of diligence, correctness, information and transparency envisaged for investors in the exercise of the activities regulated in part II of the Italian Financial Regulation Laws (Testo Unico della Finanza) (including collective asset management), excluding those concerning non-life assets;
    • which involve the request for sums of money for an amount not exceeding Euro 500,000 (five hundred thousand);

    including cross-border disputes.

  2. Recourse to the ACF can only be made solely by the investor, in the manner specified in the Regulations, so long as:
    • no similar action (initiated also the financial intermediary), has been commenced in the courts;
    • a complaint was previously submitted to the intermediary to which an express response was provided, and more than 60 (sixty) days have elapsed since its submission without the intermediary having communicated a response to the investor.

    The recourse to the ACF must be proposed within 1 (one) year from the submission of the complaint to the intermediary or, if the complaint was presented before the start date of the operations of the ACF, within 1 (one) year from that date.

  3. The right to appeal to the ACF cannot be waived by the investor and, without prejudice to the provisions of the previous point no. 2, is always exercisable, even in the presence of dispute resolution provisions to other out-of-court resolution bodies contained in a contract.
  4. Synergo SGR ensures that any complaints received by the investor will always be assessed in the light of the guidelines derived from the decisions taken by the ACF and that, in the event of non-acceptance (even partial) of such complaints, the investor will be provided with adequate and timing for submitting the appeal to the ACF.

For any further information on the subject, please refer to the text available at the following link:

http://www.consob.it/web/area-pubblica/arbitro-per-le-controversie-finanziarie