Resolution no. 21856

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.tradixa.net

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 audits conducted on the website www.tradixa.net ascertained that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website www.tradixa.net, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs on shares, indices and commodities through the Metatrader4 and Webtrader platforms;

ii. in order to be able to trade, users must open an account and transfer a cash funds via a deposit to the account opened online; specifically, six types of account are offered on the website, named "Basic", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum", "Diamond" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. the "Terms and Conditions" section of the website makes reference to the company Tradixa Ltd, with stated registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and in the Marshall Islands;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolutions no. 21437 of 8 July 2020, no. 21520 of 30 September 2020 and no. 21657 of 18 December 2020 whereby Consob ordered, pursuant to Article 7-octies, letter b), of the Consolidated Law on Finance, the company Tradixa Ltd, to terminate the violation of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance implemented through the separate websites www.tradixa.co, www.tradi-xa.com and www.tradixas.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a similar domain to that of the aforementioned websites www.tradixa.co, www.tradi-xa.com> and www.tradixas.com, the website www.tradixa.net copies the content and graphic format of said websites;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.tradixa.net 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 website www.tradixa.net, is still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calls being made to the Italian investing public;

WHEREAS Tradixa Ltd, mentioned on the www.tradixa.net website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the register kept 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 provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abusive practices" - pursuant to which 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.tradixa.net, 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.

19 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona