Resolution no. 20964

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 website www.onlytrades.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 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 website www.onlytrades.com, it emerged that:

i. thewebsite is active and also available in Italian;

ii. The said website offers, subject to the opening an account and depositing money in it, the opportunity to perform transactions in CFDs concerning currencies (Forex), indexes and commodities, using the Metatrader4 platform;

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

iv. Within the section "Terms & Conditions" it is specified that the website www.onlytrades.com "is operated by Safe Trade Ltd" with offices in the Republic of Vanuatu.

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.onlytrades.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 Safe Trade 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 and activities to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED 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 performs investment services or activities through the internet without authorisation pursuant to the present 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’;

HAVING CONSIDERED, therefore, that it is necessary to immediately adopt this resolution since, in light of the above findings and considerations, there are justified reasons of urgency;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the www.onlytrade.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 notification.

June 12, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona