Resolution no. 20309

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 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.bnqcapital.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 the checks carried out on the www.bnqcapital.com website on January 17 and 18, 2018, it emerged that:

1. the www.bnqcapital.com website is also available in Italian;

2. the potential investor, after registering on the said website and opening an account using a specific form available on line, can trade in the Forex and CFD markets via a dedicated platform;

3. following registration, the user receives a number of standardised e-mails in Italian with which, among other things, a set of instructions are provided for using the aforesaid platform;

4. in order to carry out trading operations, an investment of money is required, through the payment of sums into the account opened online. In particular, the said website offers different types of account, namely "Mini", "Standard" and "VIP", which differ mainly for the amount of the minimum deposit required and the benefits;

5. in the " Contact Us" section and at the bottom of all the pages of the said website, the "JSB Capital Group (SV) Ltd" company with declared registered office in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines is indicated;

6. the www.bnqcapital.com website and the services offered thereon can therefore be attributed to the JSB Capital Group (SV) Ltd company.

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, from the information available, individuals operating in the name of “BNQ CAPITAL” have contacted Italian savers by telephone for the purpose of persuading them to open an account and trade on the aforementioned website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED to this regard that JSB Capital Group (SV) Ltd uses methods of contact and interaction, including immediate ones, with Italian clients via the aforementioned website, providing procedural and operational instructions to be followed for investing in financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations, carried out through the www.bnqcapital.com website, are addressed to the Italian investing public, as the said website is available in Italian and is has no blocking mechanism in place to prevent Italian users from registering;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out 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, since clients are offered the opportunity to open a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders involving 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 in 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 JSB Capital Group (SV) Ltd is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public as this non-EU company, with declared registered office in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, is not included in the register of authorised investment firms and companies of non-EU countries held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question constitute 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, as provided for by 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 implemented via the www.bnqcapital.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.

21 February 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese