Resolution no. 20337

Order, pursuant to Art. 7-octies, para. 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) to discontinue the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed via the www.investingpro.com website

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REGARD TO Law no. 216 of June 7, 1974, and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of February 24, 1998, and subsequent amendments and additions (Consolidated Law on Finance);

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the www.investingpro.com website, it emerged that:

1. the www.investingpro.com website, although is not being in Italian, however includes an Italian telephone number ("+3901119620373") and the area reserved for registered users is available in Italian;
2. the potential investor, after registering on the said website and opening an account using a specific form available online, can trade in the FOREX market and in CFDs via MT4 platform;
3. in order to carry out the said trading transactions, an investment of money is required, through the payment of sums into the account opened online;
4. the "Milton Group Ltd" company, with declared registered office in the Marshall Islands, and the "Kyoto Limited Ltd" company, with declared registered office in Sofia (Bulgaria), are indicated in the "Terms and Conditions" sectionand at the bottom of every page of the said website;
5. the www.investingpro.com website and the services offered therein are therefore attributable to the Milton Group Ltd and Kyoto Limited Ltd companies.

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, from the information available, people operating in the name of "Investingpro" have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to convince them to open an account and carry out trading transactions on the said website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED in this regard that Milton Group Ltd and Kyoto Limited Ltd use forms of contact and interaction, including immediate ones, with Italian clients through the aforementioned website, providing procedural and operational instructions for investing in financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations are addressed to the public of Italian investors as the company telephones Italian clients, to whom a special telephone number is dedicated, and the said website has no blocking mechanism in place to prevent Italian users from registering; in fact, the area dedicated to registered users is available in Italian;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out also via the said website can be classed as the provision of investment services pursuant to Art. 1, para. 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity to open a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for the authorised subjects referred to Art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The professional provision of investment services and activities for the public is reserved for investment firms and banks";

HAVING ESTABLISHED that Milton Group Ltd and Kyoto Limited Ltd are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public since they are not included in the register of EU and non-EU investment firms and companies authorised to freely provide the said services in Italy directly or through branches in Italy, register which is held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question are configured as the professional provision of investment services involving financial instruments to the Italian public in infringement of Art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED that, pursuant to Art. 7-octies of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract abuse” - CONSOB “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified therefor pursuant to this decree: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the circumstance that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated by article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement cease”;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998, performed also through the www.investingpro.com website, consisting of the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be notified to those concerned and published in CONSOB’s Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed with the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days from the date of notification.

14 March 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese