Resolution no. 20974

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.2dots.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 www.2dots.com website, it emerged that:

i. the website www.2dots.com 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 cryptocurrencies, CFDs, indexes and commodities and shares;.

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 deposit to be made and the promised benefits, ‘Base’, ‘Bronze’, ‘Silver’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Platinum’ and a further type of account is indicated “Black”

- reserved for "exclusive “ customers;

iv. At the bottom of the website pages it says that "2dots is owned and managed by WebNet Ltd", with alleged headquarters in Luxembourg and in the "Terms & Conditions" it says that "2dots is owned and operated by 4COM Network S.R.L", with alleged headquarters in Bucharest (Romania);

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 operations described above, carried out via the website www.2dots.com, is still underway and directed towards the public of Italian investors, as this website is also available in Italian and reports have been made of contact with Italian customers by individuals operating on behalf of the website via cold calling;

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 REGARD TO the fact 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 carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified therefore pursuant to this decree: […] (c) order the cessation of the infringement";

HAVING CONSIDERED, therefore, that it is necessary to immediately adopt this resolution 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 website www.2dots.com, 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