Resolution no. 21581

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.golden-cfd.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 www.golden-cfd.com website, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.golden-cfd.com website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs having currencies and commodities as their underlying assets through the Metatrader4 platform;

ii. in order to trade, the opening of an account and a cash investment are required, by paying money into the account opened on line; specifically, six types of account are offered on the website, named “Classic”, “Gold”, “Platinum”, and “VIP”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. as to traceability, in the “Terms and Conditions” section of the site and at the foot of the website pages, it indicates "Pro Star"with its registered address at Saint Vincent and The Grenadines;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21098 of 3 October 2019, whereby Consob ordered, pursuant to article 7-octies, letter b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance, "Pro Star", to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.goldencfd.com website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is superimposable on that of the above www.goldencfd.com website, the www.golden-cfd.com website replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.goldencfd.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.golden-cfd.com 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 activity, carried out through the www.golden- cfd.com website, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS “Pro Star”, the company mentioned on the www.golden-cfd.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear 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.golden-cfd.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.

11 November 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona