Resolution no. 21207

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.lctrade.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.lctrade.net, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the www.lctrade.net website, which is also available in Italian, and subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, to trade forex and CFDs online with various underlying assets such as shares, bonds, commodities, energy sources, metals, indices and Exchange Traded Funds;

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 known as 'Micro', 'Silver', 'Personal', and 'VIP'', depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. the details for 'lctrade LTD' can be found at the bottom of the said web pages; in the contacts section, amongst other things, there is a United Kingdom address and a telephone number with an Italian prefix (0039 0289959865);

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolutions no. 20868 of 27 March 2019 and no. 21129 of 31 October 2019, whereby the company London Capital Trade Ltd was ordered to cease the infringement conducted through the separate and distinct www.londoncapitaltrade.com and www.londoncapitaltrade.net websites, respectively;

WHEREAS the www.lctrade.net website slavishly replicates the contents and graphic format of the aforesaid, separate and distinct www.londoncapitaltrade.com and www.londoncapitaltrade.net websites and, with respect to the results of the investigations carried out on www.londoncapitaltrade.com and www.londoncapitaltrade.net, it was noticed that www.lctrade.net is attributed to the separate company Lctrade LTD, which, however, states its registered office is at the same address as the company London Capital Trade Ltd to which the two aforesaid domains were attributed;

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;

WHEREAS the aforementioned transactions, performed through the www.lctrade.net website, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian, and there have been reports of unsolicited telephone calls to the Italian public ('cold calling');

WHEREAS the company Lctrade LTD, with its registered address in the United Kingdom, as mentioned on the website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not enrolled 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 article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - 'Powers to counteract abusive practices' - CONSOB 'may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so 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 www.lctrade.net website, consisting of 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.

December 18, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona