Resolution no. 20779

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 through the www.fxginvest.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 Law no. 58 of February 24, 1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance'), and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the www.fxginvest.com website, it emerged that:

i. the www.fxginvest.com website, registered by a user anonymously, is also available in Italian;

ii. subject to prior registration to the said website and opening an account through a registration procedure which is also available to Italian users, potential investors are offered the opportunity of trading online via the MetaTrader 4 platform, as well as via dedicated apps for mobile devices;

iii. in order to perform trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are various types of account available, named ‘standard’ and ‘premium’ according to the minimum deposit required and the promised benefits;

iv. at the bottom of the home page, the website is attributed to the Nordic Pearl Ltd company, with registered office in Bulgaria, and the Grand Service Ltd company, with registered office in the Marshall Islands.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the aforementioned website can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in Art. 1, para. 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.fxginvest.com website are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and is has no mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the companies mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not registered on the dedicated 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 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, 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 REGARD TO the fact 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 therefor pursuant to this decree: a) 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 via the www.fxginvest.com website, consisting of the offering and 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.

January 16, 2019

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese