Resolution no. 20849

Order, pursuant to Art. 7-octies, para. 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 performed through the www.londonkapital.com and www.lkminvest.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.londonkapital.com website, it emerged that:

i. the www.londonkapital.com website, registered by a user whose identity is concealed, is also available in Italian and has no blocking mechanisms in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

ii. the potential investor, after prior registration, opening of an account and deposit of money in it, has the opportunity to trade on various assets (Forex, shares and commodities) via the 'Metatrader 4' platform;

iii. in order to perform trading transactions, a investment of money is required, to be paid into the account opened online; in particular, there are various types of account available, named, according to the minimum deposit required and the promised benefits, 'Business Class', 'First Class', ' Premium Class' and 'Economy Class';

iv. the footer of every page and the 'Terms and Conditions' section of the website mention the LKM Groups Ltd company, with office in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines;

v. the www.londonkapital.com website and the services offered therein would, therefore, be ascribable to LKM Groups Ltd, with alleged office in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines.

HAVING FOUND inspection of the www.lkminvest.com website revealed that the www.lkminvest.com homepage, also available in Italian, substantially has the same graphics and contents as those of the www.londonkapital.com website, and by selecting the different sections of www.lkminvest.com the user is automatically directed to the corresponding sections of www.londonkapital.com;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the said website qualifies 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 through the www.londonkapital.com and www.lkminvest.comwebsites are addressed to the Italian investing public, insofar as the said websites are also available in Italian and have no blocking mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the entities mentioned as the ones responsible for the said websites 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 under 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 the operations in question qualify 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 therefore 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 cease the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed through the www.londonkapital.com and www.lkminvest.com websites, 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 service.

March 13, 2019

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese