Resolution no. 20857

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.carterfs.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 website www.carterfs.com, 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 on which to 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 site by persons resident in Italy;

iv. Parties acting on behalf of the website www.carterfs.com also contact Italian investors who have already invested on abusive trading platforms hosted on different sites and try to convince them to part with their money, presenting them the possibility of recovering the sums previously lost, including by opening a "new" trading account on which to make additional payments;

v. at the bottom of every page of the website and in the ‘Terms & Conditions’ section, it is specified that ‘The website is owned and operated by SolutionsCM Ltd’ and details are give of the company SolutionsCM Ltd with alleged registered address in Bulgaria.

vi. the aforesaid company has already been the subject of a cessation order pursuant to the relevant legislation regarding the operations carried out through the website www.oryginalcrypto.com with CONSOB Resolution n. 20720 of November 29, 2018.

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 CONSIDERED that the company mentioned on the said 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 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 fact that the party is not authorised to perform the activity indicated in 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 performed via the www.carterfs.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