Resolution no. 21862

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://thinkmarket247.net and the relevant page https://trade.thinkmarket247.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 performed on the website https://thinkmarket247.net ascertained that:

i. the website www.thinkmarket247.com - which is active, registered anonymously and available also in Italian - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user is invited to register with the https://thinkmarket247.net website, access the personal area at https://trade.thinkmarket247.net, open an account and spend sums of money;

iii. in particular, the website https://thinkmarket247.net advertises four types of account, named "Bronzo" "D’Argent" "D’Oro" and "Platino",depending on the minimum deposit required and the promised benefits;

iv. the "Contact Us" section of the website, which states the e-mail address "support@thinkmarket247.net", makes reference to the company ", with no indication of said company’s registered office. The "Terms and Conditions" section specifies that "Thinkmarket247 is operated by RL Ltd. A company incorporated under the laws of the Marshal Islands".

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21224 of 23 January 2020, whereby the company RL Ltd was ordrered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.royaltd24.com;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21409 of 17 June 2020, whereby the company RL Ltd was ordered to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the website www.royaltd24.net;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21682 of 14 January 2021, whereby the company Think Market 247 Ltd was ordered to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the website www.thinkmarket247.com and the relevant page https://trade.thinkmarket247.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://thinkmarket247.net and the relevant page https://trade.thinkmarket247.netconstitutes 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 sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://thinkmarket247.net and the relevant page https://trade.thinkmarket247.net, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the the domain https://thinkmarket247.net, which grants access to the reserved area of the website https://trade.thinkmarket247.net, is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the entities "Think Market 247 Ltd" and "RL Ltd" as mentioned on the website https://thinkmarket247.net are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as none of them appear on the dedicated 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 under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which, "The commercial provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to Italian Investment 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 https://thinkmarket247.net website and its https://trade.thinkmarket247.net page, consisting in offering and providing 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.

26 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona