Resolution no. 20642

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 via the www.cac400.com and www.cac-400.com websites

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 (‘Consolidated Law on Finance’) and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the www.cac400.com and www.cac- 400.com websites it emerged that:

i. the www.cac400.com and www.cac-400.com websites have the same content and same characteristics

ii. the www.cac400.com and www.cac-400.com websites are also available in Italian;

iii. potential investors, subject to prior registration on these websites and opening an account via a specific online form, are able to trade in commodities, shares, indexes and currencies through a dedicated platform;

iv. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online;

v. at the bottom of the pages of both websites and in the 'Terms and Conditions' section, Blue Seal Limited, with alleged registered address in Vanuatu, is named as the owner of these websites.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activities performed via the websites in question can be classed as the provision of investment services referred to in art. 1, para. 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity to open a trading account against which they can issue purchase and/or sales orders of financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.cac400.com and www.cac-400.com websites are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the websites are also available in Italian and have no mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

HAVING CONSIDERED that Blue Seal Limited is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not registered on the register held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities as referred to under Article 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, therefore, that the operations in question can be classed 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, according 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 therefore pursuant to this decree: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the fact that the party is not authorised to perform the activity indicated under article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement be discontinued";

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.cac400.com and www.cac-400.comwebsites, consisting of the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those concerned and published in CONSOB’s Bulletin.

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

October 24, 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese