Resolution no. 20454

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the www.chronofm.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 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') and subsequent amendments and additions;

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

i. the www.chronofm.com website, registered by the Sanata Group EOOD company, is also available in Italian;

ii. the potential investor, after the registration to the said website and opening an account via a specific online form, has the opportunity to trade in the currency market (FOREX) and in CFDs, cryptocurrency, commodities and indexes through the MT4 platform;

iii. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required to be paid into the account opened online. In particular, the said website offers various types of account, namely 'Islamic', 'ECN', 'VIP' and 'PAMM', which differ mainly in the amount of the minimum deposit required and the benefits;

iv. as indicated in the 'Terms and Conditions' section, the aforementioned website 'is operated by Sanata Group EOOD', with alleged office in Sofia;

v. furthermore, at the footer of the 'Legal Information' page it is specified that the website in question is 'owned by Pentacle Group LTD', with alleged office in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the business also carried out also via the said website can be classed as the provision of investment services referred to in 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 involving financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.chronofm.com website are directed to Italian investors, insofar as the said website is also available in Italian and is has no mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, according to the information available, people operating in the name of 'Chronofm' have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to persuade them to open an account and trade on this website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that Sanata Group EOOD and Pentacle Group Ltd are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as these companies are not registered in the dedicated register held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to authorised entities as referred to under Article 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 the operations in question can be classed 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, according 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 cease the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.chronofm.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.

24 May 2018

On behalf of THE CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese