Resolution no. 20880

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.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.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 7 June 1974 and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the websites www.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.com, which are found to have the same content and graphic format, it emerged that:

i. the www.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.com websites are also available in Italian and have no blocking mechanisms in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

ii. potential investors, subject to registering, opening an account and depositing the relevant funds, are able to trade online through a platform called 'MetaTrader4' inn 'CFDs and Forex, indexes, futures, commodities, energy, currency pairs, securities and shares';

iii. on both websites, in order to perform trading operations, an investment of money is required through the payment of sums into the account opened online; furthermore, alongside a 'standard account', there is a demo version, called 'demo account', and an 'Islamic account';

iv. at the bottom of each page and in the 'Terms and Conditions' on the www.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.com, it is stated that the websites are 'owned by Capital Tech Ltd', with alleged registered address in the Marshall Islands, and 'operated by Pbox Ltd', with declared registered address in Bulgaria;

v. with specific reference to the website www.pbntrade.com, certain persons operating for this 'brand' contact Italian investors and offer them the possibility of recovering credits claimed against other abusive online trading companies, subject to a commission paid to the same 'PBN Trade';

vi. the www.pbntrade.com website also offers a 'partnership' system, promising commissions and rewards for those who recruit new customers.

HAVING ESTABLISHED, furthermore, that by Resolution no. 20491 of June 19, 2018 and by Resolution no. 20594 of September 26, 2018, Capital Tech Ltd has already received two termination orders pursuant to art. 7-octies in relation to operations carried out through the www.pbncapital.com and www.pbninvest.com websites, respectively.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the www.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.com websites 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.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.com websites, are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the websites are also available in Italian and have no blocking mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users; the reported cold calling also provides evidence to the same effect;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the websites do not appear to be attributable to any entity 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 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 cease the infringement of art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed through the www.pbntrade.com and www.pbnmarkets.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 the CONSOB Bulletin.

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

April 3^th, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona