Resolution no. 21263

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 carried out through the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.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 supplements;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com, it emerged that:

i. the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com is active and available in Italian;

ii. after opening an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the https://avainvestmentsgroup.com
website, to trade, inter alia, in CFDs with currencies and other assets as their underlying assets;

iii. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment is required to be paid into an account opened online;

iv. the https://avainvestmentsgroup.com website is attributable to the non-EU companies Bauman Ltd and Pacific Consulting Co Ltd: in the 'Terms and Conditions' it says that 'the
website is owned and operated by Bauman Ltd' whose registered address as stated online is in the Marshall Islands, and on the home page it says that 'this website is owned and operated by Pacific Consulting Co Ltd', whose registered office as stated online is in Bangkok, Thailand;

v. in the 'Contact us' section there is an email address, a telephone number with an Italian dialling code and a special form to request information;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 20553 of 2 August 2018 which ordered Bauman Ltd to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://ava.investments and attributable to that company;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21097 of 3 October 2019, which ordered Bauman Ltd and Pacific Consulting Co Ltd to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.avait.investments website and attributable to these companies;

CONSIDERING, moreover, the similarities in terms of name, content and graphic design between the two websites already ordered to cease and the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com, attributable to the companies Bauman Ltd and Pacific Consulting Co Ltd;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in article 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, carried out through the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors insofar as the website is available in Italian and also there have been reports by potential customers of unsolicited telephone calls (so-called 'cold calling') to the Italian public;

WHEREAS Bauman Ltd, a company with its registered address in the Marshall Islands, and Pacific Consulting Co Ltd a company with its registered address in Thailand, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since they do not appear in 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 that the infringement cease';

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 Article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://avainvestmentsgroup.com, 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.

February 12, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona