Resolution no. 21628

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 carried out through the websiteswww.adv-investment.com and www2.adv-investment.com

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 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and supplements;

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. through the websiteswww.adv-investment.com and www2.adv-investment.com, which are active and registered by an anonymous user, potential investors are offered Forex and CFDs trading opportunities;

ii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user is asked to register, access their personal area, open a trading account and invest sums of money in it;

iii. three types of account are mentioned on both websites, referred to as “Bronze”, “Gold” and “Platinum”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as regards the traceability of the websites, the “Terms & Conditions” section of the websites www.adv-investment.com and www2.adv-investment.com mention, in very general terms, “ADV- Investment” without indicating their legal status, and Estonian law;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the websites www.adv-investment.com, and www2.adv-investment.com may be considered as an offer of investment services, within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity, through the above websites, of opening a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the above websites, is ongoing and targets Italian investors, given that reports have been received of the solicitation of investments through remote communication techniques, including cold calling, addressed to Italian investors;

WHEREAS “ADV-Investment”, mentioned on the websites www.adv-investment.com and www2.adv-investment.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the register held by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which, 'The professional provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to Stock brokerage firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms';

HAVING ESTABLISHED, therefore, that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - 'Powers to counteract abusive practices' - CONSOB 'may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement';

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the websiteswww.adv-investment.com and www2.adv-investment.com consisting of offering investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those whom it concerns and will be published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

10 December 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona