Resolution no. 21946

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.optimarket.cc

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

- the website www.optimarket.cc, which is active and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility trade forex instruments as well as in CFDs, futures, indices, shares and commodities through the platform named "Status";

- in order to trade, users must register with the website www.optimarket.cc via an online procedure and subsequently open one of the advertised accounts. In particular, there are five types of account referred to as "Trainee", "Standard", "Trader", "Expert" and "Vip", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

- as for traceability, the bottom of the pages of the website www.optimarket.cc makes reference to the company Donnybrook Consulting Ltd, with stated registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21680 of 14 January 2021, no. 21761 of 11 March 2021 and no 21842 of 12 May 2021, whereby Donnybrook Consulting Ltd, with declared registered office in Dominica, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate domains https://energymarkets.io, https://energy-markets.cc and the relevant page webtrader.energy-markets.cc; https://eurofx.trade, https://bid-broker-stocks.io and https://bid-broker- stocks.cc, as well as www.optimarket.co and the relevant page https://optimarket.trade;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.optimarket.cc 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 above activity, carried out through the website www.optimarket.cc, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS the Donnybrook Consulting Ltd, as mentioned on the website, is not authorised to engage in the provision of investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on 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 in order to provide investment services, 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 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 unauthorised provision of investment sevices" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease";

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. 58/1998 carried out through the website www.optimarket.cc, which is deemed to constitute 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.

7 July 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Digitally signed by
Paolo Savona