Resolution no. 21485

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 website https://matrixbanco.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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. subject to registration, the website https://matrixbanco.com, which is active and also available in Italian, offers the opportunity of trading on forex, CFDs, shares and commodities through the Metatrader4 platform;

ii. in order to perform trading transactions, a cash investment is required, to be paid into an account opened online.

iii. the site offers three types of account, with a minimum deposit of 200 dollars, called “VIP", "Standard" and "Pro";

iv. on the "Commercial Terms" page in the site, there is a reference to "Matrix Banco" and in the "Contact Us" section there is the address that the Company claims to have in St. Vincent and The Grenadines;

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 operations, performed through the website https://matrixbanco.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS “Matrix Banco” mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed in the register maintained 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 article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract unauthorised activity” - 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 art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the website https://matrixbanco.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.

2 September 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona