Resolution no. 21893

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.tradobit.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 website, it emerged that:

i. the website www.tradobit.com offers potential investors the opportunity to place orders on the forex market and trade CFDs on sahres, cryptocurrencies and ETFs through the web trading platform “TradoBit Multi-Platform”;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.tradobit.com through a procedure that is also available for Italian users - and access the reserved area, where it is possible to open a trading account deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, six types of accounts are mentioned on the www.tradobit.com website, referred to as “Beginner”, “Bronze”, “Silver”, “Gold”, “Diamond” and “Platinum”, depending the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as for the traceability of the website, the footer specifies that "The website is operated by UniCap Trade ltd," with stated registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica, while in the “Terms Conditions” generic references are made to “Tradobit” with stated registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.tradobit.com 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.tradobit.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the companies UniCap Trade ltd, with stated registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica, and "Tradobit", with stated registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as mentioned on the website www.tradobit.com, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not listed on the relevant 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 www.tradobit.com website, 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.

10 June 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona