Resolution no. 22209

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 via the website https://luxinvestment.co/ and the respective webpage https://webtrader.luxinvestment.co

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 24th February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. the website https://luxinvestment.co/ - which is active, partially available in Italian and registered anonymously - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade on the forex market and with CFDs on shares and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://luxinvestment.co/, then open an account and deposit the necessary funds; specifically, three types of account are advertised, known as "Basic", "Standard" and "Advanced", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after registration, users can access the reserved area of the site from which it is possible, among other things, to use the online trading platform available at the internet address https://webtrader.luxinvestment.co;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the footer of the website https://luxinvestment.co/ states that "This website is owned and operated by Felicity Group LTD Address: 8 Copthall, Roseau Valley, 00152, Commonwealth of Dominica";

v. the "Contact" section contains a form for requesting information and support;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolutions no. 21906 of 17 June 2021, n. 21986 of 29 July 2021 and no. 22000 of 15 September 2021, whereby the company Felicity Group LTD was ordered to cease its infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted via the separate websites https://unionstock.co; https://fantex.co, https://www1.fantex.co and the respective webpage https://unionstock.cc;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://luxinvestment.co/ website and relevant https://webtrader.luxinvestment.co webpage constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the opportunity through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity is still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://luxinvestment.co/ is partially available in Italian, and moreover there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "Felicity Group LTD", as mentioned on the website https://luxinvestment.co/, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed on the register maintained 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 authorised 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 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 https://luxinvestment.co/ website and its https://webtrader.luxinvestment.co webpage, 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.

16 February 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona