Resolution no. 21577

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 https://4fxluxus.com 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 https://4fxluxus.com website, it emerged that:

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

ii. the website, organised in sections, namely "Home", "Products", "Platforms", "About us", "Training", "Legal pack", and "Contact us", offers the opportunity, using the Meta Trader 4 platform, after opening a trading account, to trade on the Forex market, trading cryptocurrencies, CFDs, indices and commodities;

iii. as for the links to the site, the "Terms and Conditions"page states "this website is owned and operated by 4FXLUXUS"; at the bottom of the website pages the company “4FXLUXUS Pvt Ltd"is indicated (without any indication of its address); the "Contact us" page instead shows the address "Griffith Corporate Centre, P.O. box 1510, Beachmont Kingstown Saint Vincent and the Grenadines"and a reference to "Global Pegasus Ltd".

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21312 of 25 March 2020, whereby the order was given to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out by "Global Pegasus Ltd" through the separate www.fx4lux.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://4fxluxus.com 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 https://4fxluxus.com website, are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors since the website is also available in Italian, and there have also been reports of cold calling the Italian public;

WHEREAS 4FXLUXUS Pvt Ltd and Global Pegasus Ltd which are mentioned in the website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since they do not appear 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 Italian Investment 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 https://4fxluxus.com 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.

6 November 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona