Resolution no. 21843

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.nabeuropelimited.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 web, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.nabeuropelimited.com website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs relating to currencies, indices, commodities and shares;

ii. in order to place such transactions, users must register with the website www.nabeuropelimited.com, through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, five types of accounts are mentioned on the website www.nabeuropelimited.com, named "Micro", "Argento", "Oro", "Platino" and "Esclusivo", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as regards the traceability of the website, the section named "Privacy policy" in the domain www.nabeuropelimited.com states that "the site is owned and operated by Nab Europe Limited", with alleged registered office in London;

HAVING REGARD TO resolutions no. 21735 of 25 February 2021 and no. 21784 of 31 March 2021, whereby Nab Europe Limited, with its alleged registered office in London, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate and distinct www.nabconsulting.eu and www.nabeuropeltd.com domains, respectively;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned www.nabconsulting.eu and www.nabeuropeltd.com websites, the www.nabeuropelimited.com site replicates the content and graphic format of said www.nabconsulting.eu and www.nabeuropeltd.com domains;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.nabeuropelimited.com constitutes the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described transactions, carried out through the www.nabeuropelimited.com website, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors since the aforesaid website is also available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calls to members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS Nab Europe Limited, with stated registered office in London, as mentioned on the www.nabeuropelimited website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since 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.nabeuropelimited.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 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.

12 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona