Resolution no. 21144

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 https://web.zurichcorporation.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 website https://web.zurichcorporation.com, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website https://web.zurichcorporation.com, also available in Italian, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs with currencies as their underlying assets;

ii. in order to trade, a cash investment is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are four types of account available - depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised - called 'Micro', 'Standard', 'Premium' and 'VIP';

iii. as for the links to the site in question, it has been established that:

- a footnote on the website pages states that “Zurixcorp is a trading name of Alfa Financial a Financial services Company”, with stated address in Dubai;

- in the “Contact us” section of the website, “Zurich Corporation” states that it has a “head office” in London and other “offices” in Zurich and Singapore;

- in the “Who we are” and “Privacy Policy” sections of the website, there are references to “lsystems LTD”, which state that it has an address in Dubai. The document entitled “conditions of trading” states that “lsystems” is the direct contractual counterparty of users who, having registering on the site, have opened a trading account;

WHEREAS 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 the aforementioned operations may still be carried out, through the https://web.zurichcorporation.com website, and are aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Alfa Financial, with stated address in Dubai, “Zurich Corporation”, with “head office” in London and offices in Singapore and Zurich, and lsystems LTD, with stated address in Dubai, mentioned on the website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not registered on the register kept by Consob pursuant to Article 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 through the Internet without being qualified 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 cease the infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the https://web.zurichcorporation.com, website, consisting in the offering and 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.

November 13^th, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona