Resolution no. 21311

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 URL dax1001.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 REGARD TO Resolution no. 20826 of 20 February 2019, whereby Consob ordered, pursuant to article 7-octies, letter b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance, the company ONE THOUSAND ONE Ltd, with its registered office in the Marshall Islands, to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the website www.dax1001.com;

HAVING ESTABLISHED, from checks on the website that can be reached through the namesake URL dax1001.com, that:

i. the site that can be reached through the URL dax1001.com, registered by an unknown user, is also available in Italian and has substantially the same contents and graphic format as the above mentioned website www.dax1001.com;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity to trade on the foreign exchange market (Forex) and to trade in CFDs with indices, commodities and shares as their underlying assets, through the MT4 platform, subject to registration with the site and opening of an account, through a specific form available online;

iii. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment is required to be paid into an account opened online.In particular, the website offers various types of account, called “Basic”, “Gold”, and “Platinum”, differing mainly in the amount of the minimum deposit and the benefitspaid to users;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website dax1001.com 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 above transactions, carried out through the website dax1001.com are aimed at Italian investors, since the website is in Italian;

WHEREAS “DAX1001” which is mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since no entity with that name is registered 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 the authorised entities referred to in 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 regarding financial instruments 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 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: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the circumstance that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated by art. 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement cease';

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the website that can be reached through the URL dax1001.com, consisting in the offer 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.

March 25, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona