Resolution no. 21833

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.invest-flow.io and the relevant page webtrader.investflow.trade

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 web, it emerged that:

i. the website www.invest-flow.io, which is active and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility to trade CFDs on a wide "Range of trading markets (forex, stock market, commodities market)";

ii. in order to carry out such transactions, users must register with the website www.invest-flow.io, through a procedure that is also available for Italian users

and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. after registration, users can access the reserved area of the site, which contains functions to deposit funds and to access the web tradingplatform available at the addresswebtrader.investflow.trade;

iv. four types of account are mentioned on the website www.invest-flow.io, known as "Base", "Trader", "Business" and "Aziendale", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

v. within the site www.invest-flow.io, generic references are made to "InvestFlow Inc." and among other things the email address "compliance.it@investflow" is shown.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.invest-flow.io and the relevant page webtrader.investflow.trade 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 www.invest-flow.io and the relevant page webtrader.investflow.trade, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforementioned domains are also available in Italian and moreover the website www.invest-flow.io makes reference to an email address dedicated to Italian users.

WHEREAS the website www.invest-flow.io and the relevant page webtrader.investflow.trade cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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.invest-flow.io and the relevant page webtrader.investflow.trade, constituting the offer and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

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

5 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona