Resolution no. 20946

Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, par. 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.bancdm.io website

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 www.bancdm.io website, it emerged that:

i. the www.bancdm.io website, registered by a user anonymously, is also available in Italian;

ii. subject to prior registration to the website and opening an account through the registration procedure, which is also available to Italian users, potential investors are offered the opportunity to trade on the FOREX market, trade in CFDs, indexes, commodities, ETFs and cryptocurrencies using the MT4 platform.

iii. in order to perform the trading transactions, a investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are various types of account available, named, according to the minimum payment required and the promised benefits, 'Micro', 'Standard', 'Premium' and 'VIP';

iv. at the bottom of the website pages, it is stated that it is owned and managed by Takeda Partners LTD, with alleged registered address in the Marshal Islands, whilst the 'Terms & Conditions' state that 'the website is owned by a group of companies. The group includes: BancDeMonarch Limited", with declared registered address in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.

HAVING CONSIDERED that, with Resolution no. 20479 of June 12, 2018, pursuant to art. 7-g, lett. b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance, CONSOB ordered the cessation of the infringement of art. 18 of Consolidated Law on Finance in relation to the website www.bancdm.com, with content similar to the website www.bancdm.io;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out via the website www.bancdm.io 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 via the www.bancdm.io website are currently ongoing and are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calling with regard to the Italian public;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the companies mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as these entities 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, 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 order the cessation of the infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.bancdm.io website, 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