Resolution no. 20856

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 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 website www.traderia.com

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.traderia.com website, it emerged that:

i. Potential investors, subject to prior registration and the opening of an account using a dedicated online form, are able to access a reserved area of the website, which includes a trading platform through which they can trade in “forex” and “CFD”;

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

iii. Although the website is written in English, "cold calling" carried out in respect of the Italian public has been proven; moreover, on the website there are no mechanisms aimed to block access and registration to the website by persons resident in Italy;

iv. the parties working on behalf of the site www.traderia.com also contact Italian investors who have already invested on abusive trading platforms hosted on other websites, convincing them to give their money to recover sums previously lost, by opening a "new" trading account on which to make additional payments;

v. at the bottom of all the website’s pages it is specified that "Traderia is a trading name of Pro Star", a party that declares to have its headquarters in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

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 operations identified are also directed towards investors resident in Italy who are contacted by telephone and invited to open trading accounts on the aforementioned website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the party mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is 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 the qualified 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 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-Octiesocties 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 in article 1, paragraph 5; b) order the party to cease the infringement”;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the www.traderia.com website consisting of the provision of services and investment 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.

March 20^th, 2019

On behalf of THE CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese