Resolution no. 21407

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 www.rmt500.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 supplements;

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

HAVING REGARD TO Resolutions no. 21153 of 20 November 2019 and no. 21225 of 23 January 2020 whereby Consob ordered, pursuant to article 7-octies, letter b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance, the company RMT 500 Ltd, with its registered office in the Marshall Islands, to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance taking place respectively through the www.rmt500.com and www.rtm500.com websites;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website www.rmt500.net, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the www.rmt500.net website, which is also available in Italian and has a structure as well as content similar to the abovementioned www.rmt500.com and www.rtm500.com websites, subject to prior opening of an account through the registration procedure also available for Italian users, to trade futures and CFDs with underlying currencies, indices, commodities and shares through the Metatrader4 platform;

ii. in order to trade, a cash investment is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are three types of account available called 'Monza', 'Silver' and 'Gold', depending on the benefits promised;

iii. as to the traceability of the site in question, there are generic references on it to "RMT500";

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 activity, performed through the website www.rmt500.net, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS “RMT500”, mentioned on this website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear 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 licensed parties as referred to under article 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 performed through the website www.rmt500.net, consisting in offering and providing 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.

June 17, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona