Resolution no. 21551

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.elevate4x.net 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.elevate4x.net website, it emerged that:

i. the website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. after registration and the opening of an account, the website allows users the opportunity of “trading on over 1,000 high-level assets including Forex, shares, commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies” and CFDs through the web trader platform and the “Metatrader 4” platform;

iii. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment must be paid into an account opened online; specifically, six types of account are available, namely: “Basic”, “Bronze”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Black”;

iv. the site may be traced to Elevate4x Ltd, allegedly located in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, according to the “Terms and Conditions” section; other available evidence has shown another, separate address for the company in the Marshall Islands;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.elevate4x.net 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-described operations, carried out through the www.elevate4x.net website, are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors since the site is also available in Italian, and there have also been reports of contact activities for the same website using unauthorised telephone solicitation techniques (so-called "cold calling") to the Italian public;

WHEREAS Elevate4x Ltd, mentioned on this website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear to be enrolled 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 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 article 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 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 performed through the www.elevate4x.net 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.

21 October 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona