Resolution no. 20940

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 Art. 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed via the www.gmfx24.com website.

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA
[THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR COMPANIES AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE]

HAVING REAGARD 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 NOTED that, from checks made on the www.gmfx24.com website, it emerged that:

i. thesaid website is also available in Italian;

ii. the said website offers, subject to the opening an account and depositing money in it, the opportunity to trade in derivative financial instruments, Forex, commodities, equities and indexes, using the MT4 platform;

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

iv. by registering to the website, the user gains access to the website reserved area through which they can deposit money into their own account;

v. in the footer of the pages of the said website it is stated that 'GMFX24 is owned and operated by Goldman 24 Ltd' with alleged registered office in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the said 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, still ongoing on the www.gmfx24.com website, are aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the website cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as Goldman 24 Ltd is not registered on the 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, therefore, 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 CONSIDERED that, pursuant 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';

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

To cease the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the www.gmfx24.com website, consisting of the offering and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those whom it concerns and will be published in the CONSOB Bulletin.

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

May 22, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona