RESOLUTION no. 21444 of 15/07/2020

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 www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk website.

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 www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk website, it emerged that:

i. the site is active and partially available in Italian, the language in which the reserved area can be consulted after registration;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs relating to shares, indices and commodities;

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

iv. four types of account are offered on the website, known as "Micro", "Standard", "Gold" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required;

v. as for the links to site in question, the Terms and Conditions indicate "Capoinvest.com" as the counterpart, while the "privacy policy" indicates the Marshall Islands-based company "Capoinvest Ltd" as the other party;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21331 of 22 April 2020, whereby the order was given to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the separate www.capo-invest.com website;

CONSIDERING, moreover, the similarities in terms of name, content and graphic design between the aforementioned website, which is already under investigation, and the www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through this website 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 activity, carried out through the www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the site is partially in Italian and there have been reports of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the transactions carried out through the site are not attributable to any authorised entity;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities 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 article 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 abuse" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over 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 www.capoinvestgroup.co.uk website, consisting in the 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.

July 15, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona