Resolution no. 21725

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 performed through the website https://27proquote.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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the https://27proquote.com website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the https://27proquote.com website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade financial instruments such as futures, CFDs on currencies, indices and shares;

iii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user is invited to register with the https://27proquote.com website, access their personal area, open an account and spend sums of money;

iv. in particular, various types of account are offered on the website, known as "Essential", "Original" and "Signature";

v. as for the https://27proquote.com website’s traceability, on the "Contacts" page reference is made to "Empire Capital LLC" with its alleged registered address at "Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Beachmont, P.O. Box 1510, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines";

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://27proquote.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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://27proquote.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS the company mentioned on the so-called "Empire Capital LLC" website, with its alleged registered address at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, given that it is not listed in 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 carried out through the https://27proquote.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 18, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona