Resolution no. 21708

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://billionforex.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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the https://billionforex.com website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website https://billionforex.com, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade in financial instruments;

iii. in order to be able to trade a cash investment is required, through payment into an account opened on line; in particular, the accounts on offer, "Micro", "Standard" and "VIP", differ depending on the minimum deposit required and the services promised;

iv. users are then redirected through the website’s reserved area, where there are no mechanisms to block the registration of users connecting from Italy, to the tradingplatform;

v. the company Billion Forex Ltd is indicated in the uploaded pages.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://billionforex.com 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 to use to issue purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activities, performed through the https://billionforex.com website, are still ongoing and are directed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian, and there have also been reports of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS the company named Billion Forex Ltd mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is 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 activities 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 art. 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. 58/1998 carried out through the https://billionforex.com website, consisting in the offering and provision of 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.

February 4, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona