Resolution no. 21481

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.wallwoodbroker.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 www.wallwoodbroker.com, it emerged that:

i. the website is active and available in Italian;

ii. the website offers the opportunity, after registration and opening of an account, of trading Forex and CFDs with underlying indices, cryptocurrencies and commodities, through the Metatrader 4 trading platform;

iii. 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, depending on the benefits promised, called 'Bronze', 'Silver' and 'Gold';

iv. the website www.wallwoodbroker.com does not have a section relating to its contractual terms and conditions;

v. the “Wallwoodbroker” brand is mentioned within the site, specifying that the "company" it relates to is purportedly based in the United Kingdom.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.wallwoodbroker.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 activities, performed through the website www.wallwoodbroker.com, are still ongoing and are directed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian, and there have also been reports of unsolicited telephone calls ('cold calling') to the Italian public;

WHEREAS the entity named “Wallwoodbroker” mentioned on the website 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, and this entity should not be confused with the company “Wallwood Capital Management Limited" which is instead authorised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and features 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 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 www.wallwoodbroker.com, 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.

September 2, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona