Resolution no. 20973

Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, par. 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance' - TUF) to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the www.kayafx.com 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.kayafx.com website, it emerged that:

i. through the website www.kayafx.com potential investors are offered, after registering on the website and opening an account through the procedure also available for the Italian user, to trade in forex, CFD, indexes, shares and commodities;

ii. 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 deposit to be made and the promised benefits, ‘Mini’, ‘Bronze’ , ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’;

iii. At the bottom of the website pages it says that "KayaFX is owned and operated by AlphaTec Ltd", with alleged headquarters in England;

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 above described operation, carried out through the website www.kayafx.com, is now underway and directed to the public of Italian investors as there have been reports of contact with Italian customers by individuals acting on behalf of the said website via cold calling;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the company mentioned on this website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is 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, 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 due authorisation pursuant to this decree: […] b) order cessation of the infringement";

HAVING CONSIDERED, therefore, that it is necessary to immediately adopt this measure as, 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 also performed via the www.kayafx.com 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 service.

June 19, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona