Resolution no. 22060

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 https://primustrader.com website and the relative https://client.primustrader.com and https://webtrader.primustrader.com webpages

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the https://primustrader.com website, which is available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity, subject to prior opening of an account, to operate on the Forex market and trade CFDs, shares, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to be able to trade, the user is invited to register with the website, access their personal area available at the address https://client.primustrader.com and then open an account by making a deposit. The proposed "Basic", "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum" and "Black" accounts differ according to the minimum deposit required and relevant terms and conditions;

iii. through the website’s reserved area, which has no mechanisms for blocking the registration of users connecting from Italy, users are then redirected to the tradingplatform which is available at the address https://webtrader.primustrader.com;

iv. the website pages indicate the company "Primus Trader" in the Marshall Islands;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://primustrader.com website and relevant https://client.primustrader.com and https://webtrader.primustrader.com pages 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 where they can place buy and/or sell orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned transactions, carried out through the https://primustrader.com website and relevant https://client.primustrader.com and https://webtrader.primustrader.com pages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the website is available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the company named "Primus Trader" mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register kept by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to licensed parties as referred to under 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 article 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 activity" - 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 https://primustrader.com website and relevant https://client.primustrader.com and https://webtrader.primustrader.com pages, which constitutes the offering and 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.

27 October 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona