The Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM) issued 24 condemnatory decisions in administrative offense proceedings in 2024 and imposed 18 fines amounting to 527,500 euros, according to the annual report released today.
The regulator indicated that the final decisions in 2024 included administrative offenses related to unauthorized financial intermediation activities and breaches of conduct duties concerning auditing activities or the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
In auditing activities, the offenses mostly involved violations of documentation duties and timely file closure.
In money laundering and terrorist financing prevention, the main issue was the violation of identification, diligence, and examination duties.
Of the 18 fines applied, 13 were against corporate entities and five against individuals.
From the total fines, 112,500 euros were allocated to the Investor Compensation Scheme, with 73,500 euros going to CMVM revenues and 31,500 euros to state revenues.
By the end of 2024, 56 administrative offense proceedings were still underway.
The previous year, in 2023, the CMVM had imposed 29 fines valued at 1,222.5 million euros.
Last year, the regulator notably used precautionary measures for the first time to seize and freeze assets in cases involving individuals acting as “finfluencers” (influencers providing financial instrument information to social media investors).
The objective, it explained, was “to prevent the dissipation of the defendants’ assets,” and the legality of these decisions was later confirmed by the courts.
In total, 33 finfluencers were identified, over 150 contents analyzed, and 20 hours of videos reviewed.
The financial market regulator also announced today that, in 2024, it achieved a profit of 2.179 million euros, an 11% increase over the 1.961 million euros achieved in 2023.
The CMVM highlights nearly a 6% growth in supervision fees, totaling 1.445 million euros, while also benefiting from non-operational revenue growth due to interest rates in CEDIC and CEDIM and the corresponding treasury management, generating 995 thousand euros, a 29% increase from the previous year.
On the expenditure side, amortizations and depreciations rose by 37% compared to 2023, driven by a previously initiated investment plan, primarily in technology, and a 10% rise in external supply and service expenses, especially in information technology services.
Personnel expenses saw an overall increase of about 2% due to career progressions and salary updates.
In 2024, the CMVM’s issuer supervision covered nine public debt offers—the highest since 2014—and the first public tender offer fully conducted under the 2021 amendments to the Securities Code.
The regulator intervened in 15 cases to ensure timely disclosure of privileged information and intensified sustainability oversight.
In market supervision, there were 13 non-recurrent supervisions, seven involving onsite actions at market structures and financial intermediaries, and 36 cases of operations suspected of market abuse.
In audit supervision, 52 new actions were initiated, and 59 were closed, focusing on audit firm governance, ISQM standards implementation, and audit archive quality.
Regarding onsite supervision and investigation activities, 14 onsite supervision actions were conducted, 73 non-compliances detected, 50 cases of unauthorized entities analyzed, and five processes concluded on suspicions of market abuse crimes.
In investor protection, the regulator emphasized extending the alternative dispute resolution mechanism (RAL) to investment companies and strengthening financial literacy promotion.
The CMVM completed the Strategic Plan 2022-2024 with an 85% implementation rate in 2024 and prepared the Strategic Plan 2025-2028.
