Resolution no. 22107

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://tradesactions.com website and its respective https://accounts.tradesactions.com webpage

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 7th 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://tradesactions.com website, which is active and registered anonymously, is composed of the sections"Home", "About", "Trading Tools", "Trading Platform" and "Contact", and offers users the possibility, after opening an account, of placing trades on forex, indices, shares and commodities through a trading platform;

ii. in order to trade, users must register with the https://tradesactions.com website, through a procedure that is also available for Italian users and access the reserved area - available at the address https://accounts.tradesactions.com - where they can make deposits and withdrawals from their trading account and select the "Web Terminal" link, through which they are redirected to the trading platform;

iii. in particular, three types of account are offered on the website, known as "MICRO", "STANDARD" and "PREMIUM/ ECN", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as to ownership of the site, it has emerged that it has references to the company "Trade Action Ltd", a name present in the "Contact Us" section which indicates a registered office at "House of Francis, Room, 303, Ille Du Port, Mahe, Seychelles";

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21876 of 3 June 2021, whereby "Trade Action Ltd" - "TradeSaction Ltd" with alleged registered address in Mahe - Seychelles, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate domain https://tradesaction.com and respective https://accounts.tradesaction.com webpage;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21977 of 29 July 2021, whereby "Trade Action Ltd" with alleged registered address in Mahe-Seychelles, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate domain https://trades-action.com and respective https://accounts.trades-action.com webpage;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned websites, the https://tradesactions.com website has similar structure and content to that of the https://tradesaction.com website;

WHEREAS activity carried out through the https://tradesactions.com website and the relevant https://accounts.tradesactions.com page can be classed as the provision of investment services as per article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity through the aforesaid domains of opening a trading account and placing buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://tradesactions.com website and the relevant https://accounts.tradesactions.com webpage, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling of retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "Trade Action Ltd", which is mentioned on this 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 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 abuse" - 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. 58/98 carried out through the website https://tradesactions.com and the relevant page https://accounts.tradesactions.com, constituting the offer 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.

9 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona