Resolution no. 21809

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 www.capitalfx.co and the relevant page https://client.capitalfx.co

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 website, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website www.capitalfx.co, which is active and registered by an anonymous user, to trade CFDs on shares, indices and commodities through the MT4 platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.capitalfx.co - through a procedure that is also available for Italian users beginning from the page https://client.capitalfx.co - and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website www.capitalfx.co, named"Bronze", "Silver", "Gold" and "Black" depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the "Terms and Conditions" section of the website mentions the company EZ2GO Ltd with stated registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

WHEREAS activity carried out through the website www.capitalfx.co and the relevant page https://client.capitalfx.co can be classed as the provision of investment services as per article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account and placing buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned transactions, carried out through the website www.capitalfx.co and the relative page https://client.capitalfx.co, are ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar it is also possible for Italian citizens to register and the reserved area of the website is available in Italian;

WHEREAS EZ2GO Ltd, with stated registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica, to which the domains www.capitalfx.co and https://client.capitalfx.co are attributable, is 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 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;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website www.capitalfx.co and the relevant page https://client.capitalfx.co, consisting of the offering and 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.

22 April 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona