Resolution no. 21468

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.gnt-fin.com 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.gnt-fin.com website, it emerged that:

i. the website www.gnt-fin.com is operational and after an account referred to as "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold" and "Platinum” has been opened, offers the opportunity to trade forex, indices, shares and commoditiesthrough the SIRIX and Metatrader 4 trading platforms;

ii. after registration, the user can access the reserved area where deposits and withdrawals can be made on their tradingaccount;

iii. as far as traceability of the site in question is concerned, mention is made of “Gntfin LTD” in the "Contact us” section; under the heading "Get in touch with us", it states "London Office, Bulgaria, Sofia 1700, Sofia region (capital), Sofia Municipality, Lozenets district Yordan Radichkov Str. No. 5B, ap. Store 1”; “Head Quarters, 9 Boulevard du Jardin Exotique, 98000 Monaco”; “Secondary Branch, 10 King William St, London EC4N 7TW, UK”;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21399 of 10 April 2020, whereby “GNTFIN LTD”, allegedly based in Monaco, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the distinct website www.gntfin.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned website www.gntfin.com, the website www.gnt-fin.com replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.gntfin.com site;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website wwww.gnt-fin.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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.gnt- fin.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of the public in Italy receiving unsolicited telephone calls (cold-calling);

WHEREAS “Gntfin LTD”, allegedly based in Monaco, mentioned on the website www.gnt-fin.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as 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 to 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 Article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the website www.gnt-fin.com 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 29, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona