Resolution no. 20339

Order, pursuant to Art. 7-octies, para. 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 through the www.hqbroker.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 checks on www.hqbroker.com website, it emerged that:

1. the www.hqbroker.com website is also available in Italian and contains two telephone numbers dedicated to Italy ("+3901311720089" and "+3901311720108");
2. the potential investor, after registering on the said website and opening an account using a specific form available online, can trade in the Forex market via MT4 platform;
3. after the registration, the user receives a number of standardised e-mails in Italian with, among other things, instructions for using the said platform;
4. in order to carry out the trading transactions, an investment of money is required, through the payment of sums into the account opened online. In particular, different types of account called “Starter”, “Silver”, “Golden”, “Platinum” and “Investor” are offered on the said website. They differ mainly for the amount of the minimum deposit required and the benefits;
5. the “Capzone Invest Ltd” company, with declared registered office in Hong Kong, is indicated in the "Terms and Conditions" section and at the bottom of every page of the said website;
6. the www.hqbroker.com website and the services offered therein are therefore attributed to the Capzone Invest Ltd company.

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, from the information available, people operating in the name of "HQ Broker" have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to convince them to open an account and carry out trading operations on the said website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED in this regard that Capzone Invest Ltd uses forms of contact and interaction, including immediate ones, with Italian clients through the aforementioned website, providing procedural and operational instructions for investing in financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations, also carried out through the www.hqbroker.com website, are addressed to the Italian investing public, as the said website is available in Italian and has no blocking mechanism in place to prevent Italian users from registering; on the contrary, it includes two telephone numbers specifically dedicated to Italian users;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out also via the said website can be classed as the provision of investment services pursuant to 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 for 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 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 Capzone Investment Ltd, with declared registered office in Hong Kong, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public since it is not included in the register of EU and non-EU investment firms and companies authorised to freely provide the said services in Italy directly or through branches in Italy, register which is held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question are configured 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, pursuant 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 discontinue the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed also through the www.hqbroker.com website, consisting of the provisions of investment services and activities for 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.

14 March 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese