Resolution no. 21090

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 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 via the website https://www.kronosinvest.co/

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 https://www.kronosinvest.co/ , it emerged that:

i. the website https://www.kronosinvest.co/ offers the potential investor, after opening an account via the registration procedure that is also available to the Italian user, the possibility of trading on crypto-currencies, indexes, shares, commodities and forex;

ii. as a result of the registration procedure, the potential investor has access to the reserved area of the website that is available in Italian;

iii. in order to perform the trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are five types of account available, named, according to the minimum payment required and the promised benefits, 'Blue', 'Silver', 'Gold', 'Elite' and 'Islamic';

iv. within the website https://www.kronosinvest.co/ it is specified that "KRONOSINVEST is an international company providing trading services and facilities for all trader categories […]" without indication of the company address;

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 https://www.kronosinvest.co/, are currently ongoing and are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the reserved area of the website is also available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calling with regard to the Italian public;

HAVING CONSIDERED that 'Kronosinvest' is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it 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 can be classed as the professional provision to the Italian public of investment services in violation of art. 18, paragraph 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 to cease 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 https://www.kronosinvest.co/, 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.

September 25, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona