Resolution no. 22110

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 conducted via the www.profitmarketscfd.com website and the relevant https://webtrader.profitmarketscfd.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 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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.profitmarketscfd.com website which is active and available in Italian, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, to trade financial instruments such as CFDs on currencies, shares, futures, indices and commodities using a trading platform known as "Trading Profit Markets CFD";

ii. in particular, four types of account are listed on the www.profitmarketscfd.com website, referred to as "Micro Account","Standard Account", "Premium Account" and "Vip Account", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after registration, it is possible to access a web trading platform

on https://webtrader.profitmarketscfd.com;

iv. as far as ownership is concerned, no references were found on the www.profitmarketscfd.com website, inter alia, to "Profitmarketscfd", with its alleged registered address in Austria;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.profitmarketscfd.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 on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS the above transactions, conducted through the www.profitmarketscfd.com website, and the relevant https://webtrader.profitmarketscfd.com webpage are ongoing, and target Italian investors given that these Internet domains are available in Italian;

WHEREAS "Profitmarketscfd", with alleged registered office in Austria, as mentioned on the www.profitmarketscfd.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it does not appear on the register kept by Consob pursuant to Article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, and, contrary to the statements on the website, it has been ascertained that this entity is not attributable to the Dutch company "Fair Capital Partners Asset Management B.V." - likewise mentioned on said website - registered with the Dutch Authority (AFM);

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 art. 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the provisions of art. 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abuse" - pursuant to which 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 the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the website www.profitmarketscfd.com and the relevant page https://webtrader.profitmarketscfd.com, which 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.

9 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona