Resolution no. 20981

Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree n. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') to cease the infringement of art. 18 of the TUF put in place by the website www.investus.fm

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.investus.fm, it emerged that:

i. the website www.investus.fm, also available in Italian, offers the potential investor, after opening an account using the registration procedure also available to Italian users, the possibility of trading on forex, cryptocurrencies, CFD, commodities and indexes;

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; “Basic”, “Mid-Level”, “Advanced” and “Super”;

iii. At the bottom of the pages of the web site it reads that "this website and its payment services are powered and provided by PayPeq Holdings OÜ", with headquarters in Tallinn (Estonia);

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 website www.investus.fm, are still ongoing and are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian; There have also been reports of contact with Italian customers by individuals acting on behalf of the said website by cold calling) with a number with an Italian area code;

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 that the operations in question can be classed 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”;

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.investus.fm, 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 26, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona