Resolution no. 21541

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 www.ainvestments.biz 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 REGARD TO Resolution no. 20881 of 3 April 2019, whereby Esos International Ltd, with its registered office in the Marshall Islands, and Kadeky International SRO, allegedly based in the Czech Republic, were ordered to cease their infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the www.ainvestments.com website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. currently, by typing the address www.ainvestments.com, the user is automatically directed to the www.ainvestments.biz website which, in addition to having the same content and graphic format as the www.ainvestments.com website, is available in Italian and has no mechanisms to prevent Italian users registering;

ii. the www.ainvestments.biz website is therefore accessed by typing both the latter address and the www.ainvestments.com address;

iii. potential investors are offered the opportunity, subject to registering with the www.ainvestments.biz website and opening of an account via the registration process, to trade Forex and CFDs with indices, commodities, shares, ETFs and bonds as their underlying assets;

iv. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment is required, to be paid into an account opened online; specifically, different types of account are available, with various names, according to the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised: “standard”, “premium”, “platinum” and “VIP”);

v. in the "Terms and Conditions" section the company "ESOS International Ltd", with stated address in the Marshall Islands and the company "Kadeky International S.R.O.", with alleged registered address in the Czech Republic, are indicated as the parties to which the site is allegedly attributable;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.ainvestments.biz 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 above transactions, carried out through the www.ainvestments.biz website, are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Esos International Ltd, with its registered address in the Marshall Islands and Kadeki International S.R.O., with alleged registered address in the Czech Republic, both mentioned on the www.ainvestments.biz website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not enrolled on 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.ainvestments.biz website, 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