Resolution no. 21540

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.cfdnets.com website and the marketscfd.net url

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 web it emerged that:

i. by accessing the www.cfdnets.com website the user is automatically redirected to the marketscfd.net url;

ii. the marketscfd.net url is active and offers potential investors the possibility of trading in CFDs with underlying currencies, shares, commodities and indices, through a dedicated trading platform;

iii. in order to trade and carry out transactions, users must register and open an online account; specifically the following types of accountare available, named “Basic”, “Bronze”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Black”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as for the links to the website, in the “Terms & Conditions” section and at the bottom of the web pages on the marketscfd.net url, it states “This site is owned and operated by SWISSGEMS Ltd” with its alleged registered address in Bulgaria;

v. the “Contact us” section also mentions the company called Media Solutions Ltd with its alleged registered address in Bulgaria and the email address support@marketscfd.net; likewise, at the bottom of the web pages the email address info@marketscfd.net is indicated.

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21362 of 13 May 2020, whereby SWISSGEMS Ltd and Media Solutions Ltd, both with their registered address in Bulgaria, were ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the separate website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned www.marketscfd.net website, the marketscfd.net url replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.www.marketscfd.net website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.cfdnets.com website and the marketscfd.net url to which the said site automatically redirects, 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.cfdnets.com website and marketscfd.net url to which the said website automatically redirects, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling users in Italy;

WHEREAS, SWISSGEMS Ltd and Media Solutions Ltd mentioned on marketscfd.net are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are 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 to 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 to Stock brokerage firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms';

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 www.cfdnets.com website and the marketscfd.net url to which said site automatically redirects, 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.

15 October 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona