Resolution no. 21129

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 article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net

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.londoncapitaltrade.net, it emerged that:

i. the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net is also available in Italian;

ii. subject to the prior opening of an account via the registration procedure, which is also available to Italian users, potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net to perform online trading, through a dedicated digital platform, on the forexor CFD market, with various underlying assets such as “shares, bonds, commodities, energy sources, metals, indices and cryptocurrencies”;

iii. in order to perform trading transactions a cash investment must be made, paying sums into an account opened on line; specifically, there are four types of account, named “Micro”, “Silver”, “Personal” and “VIP”, depending on the deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. In a footnote on all the pages of this website, reference is made to the company entitled “London Capital Trade LTD” with stated address in the United Kingdom. The “Contacts” section provides the full stated address in London, two e-mail addresses, a telephone number with a UK prefix, a telephone number with an Italian prefix, and a specific form to request further information.

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 20868 of 27 March 2019, which ordered the company London Capital Trade LTD to cease the infringement of art. 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.londoncapitaltrade.com;

HAVING CONSIDERED that, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned website, www.londoncapitaltrade.com, the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net slavishly replicates the graphic format and content of the www.londoncapitaltrade.com site;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity carried out through this website can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in art. 1, paragraph 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 such operations may still be carried out, through the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net, and that they are available to Italian investors, since the website is available in Italian;

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, paragraph 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 to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of art. 7-octies, letter b) 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 over the Internet without being qualified therefore pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement';

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the website www.londoncapitaltrade.net, consisting in 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.

October 31^st, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona