Resolution no. 20945

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 https://gocapitalfx.com https://gocapital123.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 https://gocapitalfx.com and https://gocapital123.com websites, it emerged that:

i. thewebsites are active and also available in Italian;

ii. both websites promise, subject to opening an account and payment of the relative sum of money, the opportunity to trade in 'CFDs involving goods, metals, energy, indexes and company shares, currency pairs and futures' through the platform called Metatrader4;

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

iv. at the bottom of the pages of both websites and in the 'Terms & Conditions' it is specified that: 'This site is owned by Lancelot Equity Ltd' with registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica.

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 performed via the https://gocapitalfx.com and https://gocapital123.com websites are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as both websites are also available in Italian and cold calling activities have been reported, targeting people residing in Italy;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the website cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as Lancelot Equity 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 therefor 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 order the discontinuation of the infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the https://gocapitalfx.com https://gocapital123.com websites, consisting of the 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 notification.

May 29, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona