Resolution no. 21717

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 website https://itradersfx.com and its page https://accounts.itradersfx.com

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://itradersfx.com website, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website to trade CFDs with currencies, shares, indices and commodities as their underlying assets through a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to trade on the platform, users must register on the page https://accounts.itradersfx.com and open an account on which to deposit the necessary funds. In particular, four types of account are offered, named "Micro Account", "Standard Account", "Premium Account" and "VIP Account", distinguished by the minimum required deposit, tradable underlyings, associated benefits and applicable fees;

iii. at the bottom of the pages of the website, the company "ITradersFX Ltd" is shown. The homepage of the website states that the same company is subject to the supervision of the British Authority. In contrast, the website's contractual terms refer to the legislation applicable in Australia and the contacts show an Australian address.

WHEREAS activity carried out through the website https://itradersfx.com and relative https://account.itradersfx.com page 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the websitehttps://itradersfx.com and the relevant page https://account.itradersfx.com is still ongoing, and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling of retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the company "ITradersFX Ltd" mentioned on the website https://itradersfx.comis not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as 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 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 art. 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, as per article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance entitled "Powers to counteract unauthorised activity", 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 the Consolidated Law on Finance performed through the website https://itradersfx.comand its relative https://account.itradersfx.com page, 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 10, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona