Regulation No. 2014-02 on the Detection of Threshold Rates for Anti-Usury Purposes under Article 207 of the Penal Code

REGULATION
Year 2014 / Number 02
DETECTION OF THRESHOLD RATES
FOR ANTI-USURY PURPOSES under Article 207 of the Penal Code (Consolidated text as of 29/01/2026 - Update VI)

---

Article 1 - Definitions

1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following terms are understood as:

• "Central Bank": the Central Bank of the Republic of San Marino governed by Law 29 June 2005, No. 96 and subsequent amendments and integrations;
• "Families": individuals or groups of individuals whose main function is consumption, according to the notion of "consumer" reported in Law 28 October 2005 No. 144 and subsequent amendments, and therefore, in particular, workers, employees, dependent workers, pensioners, retirees, beneficiaries of other transfers and generally all those who cannot be considered economic operators as they do not possess an Economic Operator Code or other equivalent foreign codification;
• "Lisf": Law 17 November 2005, No. 165 and subsequent amendments and integrations;
• "Reporting Entities": the set of reporting entities of type A and reporting entities of type B;
• "Reporting Entities of Type A": entities authorized to exercise the reserved activity distinguished by letter A) of Annex 1 of Law 17 November 2005, No. 165 and subsequent amendments and integrations;
• "Reporting Entities of Type B": entities authorized to exercise the reserved activity distinguished by letter B) of Annex 1 of Law 17 November 2005, No. 165 and subsequent amendments and integrations;
• "Credit System": the set of banks (reporting entities of type A) and financial companies (reporting entities of type B) operating in San Marino territory;
• "Productive Units": private businesses exercised individually or collectively (companies, consortia, cooperatives, etc.), their intermediaries, agents, brokers or mandataries, self-employed professionals, autonomous workers and any other natural or legal person who, consistent with the notion of "professional" in Law 28 October 2005 No. 144 and subsequent amendments, acts in the exercise of a private entrepreneurial, commercial, craft or professional activity and therefore possesses an Economic Operator Code or equivalent foreign codification, with the exception of the activities listed in Annex 1 of Law 17 November 2005 No. 165 and subsequent amendments.

Article 2 - Premise

1. Article 207, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code punishes the offense of "usury" which occurs whenever anyone, in exchange for a financial performance, takes or promises strongly disproportionate interests or advantages, or interposes to have others take or promise said interests or advantages.
2. In paragraph 2 of the same article, "strongly disproportionate" is objectively identified as that interest or advantage which determines the exceeding of the threshold rates periodically made known by the Supervisory Authority based on the average interest practiced by the CREDIT SYSTEM for various types of operations.

---

3. For REPORTING ENTITIES OF TYPE A, the calculation of threshold rates was previously governed by Circular No. 25 of 12 January 1999 and Uniform Letters Nos. 97 and 99 respectively of 20 April 1999 and 2 August 2001. Subsequently, the aforementioned measures were repealed by Circular No. 43 of 18 May 2005.
4. Symmetrically, for REPORTING ENTITIES OF TYPE B, Circular No. 28/F of 18 May 2005 repealed Circular No. 15/F of 12 January 1999 and Uniform Letters Nos. 43/F and 45/F respectively of 2 August 2001 and 26 August 2002.

Article 3 - Objectives

1. The main purpose of this Regulation is to update the legislation in question, with particular reference to the classification of operations and the methods for detecting the Effective Global Average Rate (TEGM) for the determination of threshold rates for anti-usury purposes, distinguishing, where required, between categories of financed subjects (FAMILIES and PRODUCTIVE UNITS).
2. Furthermore, with this Regulation, interpretative guidelines and pronouncements already expressed by the Supervisory Authority during the period of validity of the previous legislation are consolidated in a regulatory capacity.
3. The discipline set forth in this Regulation has an exclusively administrative-statistical purpose, aimed at the determination of threshold rates. Consequently, the criminal relevance of the conditions actually applied by financial intermediaries is left to the exclusive competence of the Judicial Authority, also with reference to the criteria and methods of inclusion or exclusion adopted by the Supervisory Authority for the determination of said threshold rates.

Article 4 - Recipients

1. The recipients of this Regulation are the REPORTING ENTITIES who, on the reference date of the report, are registered in the Register of Authorized Subjects provided for by Article 11 of LISF and Implementing Regulation No. 2006-01 and its subsequent amendments. REPORTING ENTITIES in liquidation (compulsory or voluntary) are therefore not required to submit the reports referred to in the following Articles 6 and 7 from the date of cancellation from the aforementioned Register, nor are those REPORTING ENTITIES that, on the reference date of the report, have already perfected the transfer of all financing relationships subject to detection obligations. The exemption described therefore applies only to reports for which the reference date has not yet elapsed.
2. REPORTING ENTITIES registered in the Register of Authorized Subjects during the reference quarter who have not started financing activities are exempt from sending the report.
3. In the case of merger operations between entities, of which at least one has financing as its corporate object and provided that the new entity resulting from the merger maintains financing as its corporate object, the report must be produced by the said new entity falling into the category of REPORTING ENTITIES OF TYPE A or TYPE B.

---

Article 5 - Subject Matter

1. This Regulation, for the purpose of determining threshold rates for anti-usury purposes - under Art. 207 of the Penal Code - provides the methods for detecting the effective global average rates (TEGM) practiced by the CREDIT SYSTEM in the categories of financing operations described below.

Article 6 - Reporting Periodicity and Submission Deadlines

1. Reports must refer to the following quarters considered individually:
   a) 1 January - 31 March; b) 1 April - 30 June; c) 1 July - 30 September; d) 1 October - 31 December;
2. Reports referring to the considered quarter must be transmitted by the REPORTING ENTITIES to the CENTRAL BANK by the last day of the second month following the conclusion of the quarter subject to reporting.
3. If the last day referred to in the previous paragraph coincides with a non-working day, this deadline is not subject to postponement.
4. REPORTING ENTITIES must in any case communicate to the CENTRAL BANK also the relationships excluded from the TEGM calculation, within the same deadlines as in the previous paragraphs and with the methods set forth in the following article.

Article 7 - Methods of Transmission of Reports

1. Reports must be transmitted using the relevant Reporting Models and in compliance with the operational instructions for the insertion and sending of data reported in the specific Operational Manual, both (Models and Manual) published in the reserved area of the CENTRAL BANK's website (www.bcsm.sm).
2. Any updates to the Models and the Manual will also be published, for the use of REPORTING ENTITIES, in the reserved area of the CENTRAL BANK's website.

Article 8 - Publication of Threshold Rates

1. The CENTRAL BANK will calculate, for each category of financing referred to in the following article, the threshold rates and the effective global average system rates from which, save as provided in Article 19, paragraph 4 below, the same threshold rates were derived, ensuring their subsequent publication on its website in the specific section.
2. The threshold rates, distinguished by banks and financial companies, will be applicable to the second quarter following the one subject to reporting and will be the subject of communication with a specific Circular published also in the Official Bulletin, in the manner provided by Art. 6 of the Qualified Law 26 October 2010 No. 2.
3. REPORTING ENTITIES must in any case display the threshold rates published by the CENTRAL BANK at their headquarters and each of the branches open to the public, in a manner easily visible to the public itself: banks, those derived from reports from REPORTING ENTITIES OF TYPE A, financial companies, those derived from reports from REPORTING ENTITIES OF TYPE B.

---

Article 9 - Categories of Financing Subject to TEGM Detection Obligations

1. The operations that form the object for the determination of the TEGM are:

1. bank current account credit openings;
2. financing for advances on credits and documents and discount of commercial portfolio;
3. personal credit;
4. targeted credit;
5. factoring;
6. leasing;
7. mortgages;
8. loans against assignment of the fifth of salary or pension;
9. revolving credit and with the use of credit cards;
10. other financing;
    as described below.

2. Bank Current Account Credit Openings
   2a) All operations regulated in current account under which the REPORTING ENTITY OF TYPE A undertakes to keep available to the customer a sum for a determined or undetermined time, and the customer has the option to restore its availability, belong to this category. This category also includes debits on non-authorized accounts and overdrafts on authorized accounts beyond the agreed limit. 2b) The report must indicate whether it concerns:

• bank current account credit opening assisted, wholly or partially, by a real guarantee or provided by an AUTHORIZED ENTITY pursuant to LISF;
• bank current account credit opening authorized but not assisted by a guarantee as above;
• bank current account credit opening not authorized on which debits have occurred.

3. Financing for Advances on Credits and Documents and Discount of Commercial Portfolio
   3a) Financing operations based on bills, other credit instruments and SBF documents, financing operations carried out on the basis of a credit assignment contract, and commercial portfolio discount operations are attributable to this category.
   3b) All advance and discount operations detectable, even if managed accounting-wise on an ordinary current account, belong to this category.
   3c) In no case is the advance or discount of commercial portfolio admissible without the presentation of invoices and/or contracts and/or other causal instruments suitable to prove the existence of the credit and its commercial nature.

4. Personal Credit
   4a) This category includes loans granted in favor of FAMILIES that:

5. are intended to finance generic expenditure or personal or family consumption needs;

6. are disbursed in a single lump sum and provide for repayment based on an amortization plan.
   4b) The customer, once the funds are obtained, may dispose of them for the purpose communicated to the financier, or for other purposes.
   4c) In the event that these financing are disbursed in the form of bank current account credit openings, they must be reported in that category - Bank Current Account Credit Opening.

---

5. Targeted Credit
   5a) This category comprises installment financing exclusively targeted for the purchase of one or more specific goods or for the payment of specific services for a maximum amount of 75,000.00 euros.
   5b) This category is distinguished by the close and necessary connection between the purchase of the good or service and the granting of credit, the disbursement of which by the REPORTING ENTITY financier is made by payment executed directly to the merchant (seller of the good or provider of the service).

6. Factoring
   6a) This category includes advances granted against the assignment of commercial credits, carried out with "pro-solvendo" or "pro-soluto" clauses by the owner subject (factored company) to a specialized intermediary (factor) who assumes the management of commercial credit, providing

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ possibly further collateral services to the company as well, primarily, the commitment to manage its collection.

7. Leasing
   7a) Financing under Law 19 November 2001 No. 115 and subsequent amendments and integrations, realized through contracts for the lease of tangible (movable and immovable) and intangible (e.g., software, patents, know-how) assets acquired or constructed by the lessor based on the choice and indication of the lessee, who assumes all risks and has the right to become the owner of the leased assets at the end of the lease, upon payment of a predetermined price (redemption). 7b) Operational leasing operations are therefore not included in the detection. 7c) The report requires separate evidence for leasing on immovable assets, leasing on registered movable assets (vehicles, ships, aircraft, etc.) and instrumental leasing on other movable assets (plants, machinery, equipment, furniture, etc.). Conventionally, those on intangible assets are also included in the latter. 7d) The report also requires separate evidence between fixed-rate and variable-rate immovable leasing.

8. Mortgages
   8a) Category comprising exclusively financing that:

1. has a duration exceeding 5 years;
2. is secured by a mortgage guarantee;
3. provides for repayment through the payment of installments comprising capital and interest.
   8b) Different evidence must be given for mortgages disbursed at variable and fixed rates, and within each category, separate evidence must be given if they are financing granted to FAMILIES or PRODUCTIVE UNITS.
   8c) By variable rate, it means the rate anchored to the trend of a predefined parameter. Mortgages known as "mixed rate," i.e., those that provide for periods linked to fixed rates and periods linked to variable rates, must be reported in the variable-rate mortgages category. 8d) As a partial derogation from the previous paragraph, in the event that the financing provides that part of the installments are paid at a fixed rate for a period equal to or greater than three years and for the remaining period they are paid with a variable rate, the report must be filed attributing the operation to the fixed-rate category.

---

8e) Mortgages that contractually provide that each installment paid by the customer is calculated based on a fixed rate for a certain percentage of the amount and based on a variable rate for the remaining percentage (so-called balanced mortgages) are reported among variable-rate mortgages if the percentage of the amount on which the variable rate is calculated is equal to or greater than 30%. In other cases, they are reported among fixed-rate mortgages. 8f) Mortgages that provide for the exercise of an option on the applied rate are reported in the category related to the type of rate provided for the first repayment installment.

9. Loans against Assignment of the Fifth of Salary or Pension
   9a) This category includes all loan operations against assignment of the fifth of salary or pension. For such a category to be configured, it is necessary that:

10. there is an unconditional and irrevocable order to one's employer or pension-paying entity to pay a portion of the salary/pension directly to the creditor;

11. that the financing has a duration between 18 months and 10 years. In cases where the financing is granted to a subject hired with a fixed-term contract, the duration of the financing cannot exceed the expiration of the employment contract;

12. the fifth of the assigned emoluments is understood net of withholdings adjusted to the months paid;

13. save as provided in point 2) above, the financing is directed at employees with a fixed and continuous salary, who have passed the probation period and are registered in the actual rolls of the company;

14. the financing is assisted by suitable insurance policies to guarantee the recovery of the credit (e.g., life insurance and employment risk insurance policies).
    9b) Separate evidence must be given between assignment of the fifth of salary and pension.

15. Revolving Credit and with the Use of Credit Cards
    10a) This category includes revolving credit operations and financing based on the use of credit cards.
    10b) A revolving credit operation is defined as the making available of a credit line, different from a bank current account credit opening, to be used wholly or partially, even at different times, for the purchase of goods and services from affiliated sellers or for the acquisition of monetary availability. The customer's installment payments, for which the minimum periodic amount is contractually fixed, restore the availability on the credit line. The operation can be granted with the use of a credit card.

---

11. Other Financing
    11a) This residual category includes all forms of financing not attributable to any of the previous categories (e.g., pawn credit operations, financial portfolio, credits granted with payment delegation, unsecured mortgages, mortgages that provide for disbursement "according to work progress" as well as those having an amortization plan that provides for the payment of the capital portion in full on the maturity date of the loan). 11b) Separate evidence must be provided for financing granted to FAMILIES and PRODUCTIVE UNITS.

Article 10 - Prefinancing

1. Prefinancing, i.e., financing that constitutes autonomous loan operations (generally short-term) that temporarily satisfy the needs of the debtor subject pending the granting of financing with installment repayment under review or already approved, must be reported in the category of operations related to the technical form used in the prefinancing without taking into account the category of the "main" operation.
2. Pool operations, i.e., financing disbursed by two or more REPORTING ENTITIES with risk assumption on their own account based on mandate contracts or relationships with equivalent effects, are reported by the lead REPORTING ENTITY with reference to the entire amount of the financing.

Article 11 - Categories of Financing Exempt from Detection Obligations for TEGM Calculation

1. Taking into account the specific characteristics of each type of financing, the following operations are to be excluded from statistical detection, although Article 207 of the Penal Code also applies to them:
   a) currency operations; b) positions classified as bad debts pursuant to current supervisory provisions; c) impaired credit exposures subject to concession measures pursuant to current supervisory provisions; d) subsidized rate operations; e) favorable rate operations; f) revoked financing; g) other excluded operations.
2. Currency Operations
   2a) By currency operations, we mean financing denominated in currencies other than the euro, the interest rate of which remunerates, in addition to credit risk, also exchange rate risk.

---

2b) Operations that provide for financial indexing clauses linked to the trend of the exchange rate of the euro with a specific currency or with a basket of currencies must also be considered as currency operations.
3. Positions Classified as Bad Debts Pursuant to Current Supervisory Provisions. Relationships already classified as bad debts at the end of the reference quarter are excluded from detection.
4. Impaired Credit Exposures Subject to Concession Measures Pursuant to Current Supervisory Provisions. Impaired credit exposures subject to concessions at the end of the reference quarter are excluded from detection.
5. Subsidized Rate Operations. This category includes all financing operations carried out at a rate lower than the market rate due to benefits recognized to the applicant based on legislative provisions that provide that part of the interests are paid through state funds, as well as financing granted on favorable conditions considering natural disasters or co