Resolution no. 21909

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 website https://fxdirects.co

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 website, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the https://fxdirects.co website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade on CFD, commodities, indices and shares through dedicated trading platforms;

ii. there are three types of account advertised on the website, known as "Standard STP", "Raw ECN" and "Pro ECN", depending on the minimum deposit required and the operating conditions; There are also "Islamic Accounts";

iii. at the bottom of the pages of the website state and in the "Terms & Conditions" section, the company named "Lead Secure LTD" is indicated, regarding which different addresses in the Cayman Islands and the United Kingdom are indicated;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21411 of 17 June 2020, whereby "Lead Secure LTD" was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.fxdirects.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially similar to the domain of the aforementioned website www.fxdirects.com, the domain https://fxdirects.co replicates the content and graphic format of the said website www.fxdirects.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://fxdirects.co can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account to use to issue purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.fxdirects.co, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of unsolicited contact through means of distance communication with Italian investors;

WHEREAS the company named "Lead Secure LTD" mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register maintained 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 for licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which"The commercial 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 article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of art. 7-octies, letter b) 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 pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease";

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. 58/1998 carried out through the https://fxdirects.co website, consisting in the offering and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

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

17 June 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona