Resolution no. 21792

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://spotfinex.com and the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

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 web, it emerged that:

i. the website https://spotfinex.com, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities and shares;

ii. in order to place such transactions, users must register with the website https://spotfinex.com – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, beginning from the page https://accounts.spotfinex.com which is accessible from the homepage of the site https://spotfinex.com – and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website https://spotfinex.com, named "Micro", "Standard", "Premium" and "Vip", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the company Trade Com Limited, with alleged registered office in London, is stated at the foot of the pages of the website https://spotfinex.com;

HAVING REGARD TO resolutions no. 21255 of 5 February 2020 and no. 21446 of 15 July 2020, whereby the aforementioned company Trade Com Limited was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate and distinct websites https://fxonspot.com and https://globalspotfx.com, respectively;

WHEREAS, moreover, the website https://spotfinex.comand the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com site replicate the contents and the graphic format of the above mentioned domains https://fxonspot.com and https://globalspotfx.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://spotfinex.com website and the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place buy and/or sale orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://spotfinex.com and the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforementioned domains are also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Trade Com Limited, with alleged registered address in London, to which the website https://spotfinex.com and the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com refer, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed on the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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;

R E S O L V E S:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://spotfinex.com and the relevant page https://accounts.spotfinex.com, which constitutes the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties 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.

8 April 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona