Resolution no. 21800

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 website www.marketseu.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 checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. the www.marketseu.com website - which is active, registered anonymously and available also in Italian - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to place such transactions, users must register with the website www.marketseu.com, through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, the www.marketseu.com website mentions five types of account known as "Basic", "Silver", "Gold", "VIP" and "Diamond", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as for traceability, the "Terms and Conditions" section of the website www.marketseu.com contains generic references to "MarketsEU"without any indication of its registered office address and specifies that the contractual agreements "shall be governed by the Marshall Islands";

v. in the "Contact Us" section of the website www.marketseu.com the e-mail address support@marketseu.com. is indicated

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.marketseu.com constitutes the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described transactions, carried out through the www.marketseu.com website, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors since the www.marketseu.com website is available in Italian and there have also been reports, about them, of cold calls made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "MarketsEU", mentioned on the www.marketseu.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed on the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 website www.marketseu.com, which constitutes the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties 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.

14 April 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona