Resolution no. 22251

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.trustpixs.com and the respective page https://my.trustpixs.com

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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.trustpixs.com website to trade currency contracts, indices and shares via a trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, users are invited to register with the aforesaid site, through a process that is also available for Italian users, and access their personal area available at https://my.trustpixs.com, then open an account and deposit funds; specifically, three types of account are advertised on the site ("Standard account", "Islamic Account" and "ECN Account");

iii. as far as traceability of the website the website www.trustpixs.com is concerned, the "Client Agreement", which is available online, cites the company "Trust Pixs Limited" with registered office in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.trustpixs.com and the relevant page https://my.trustpixs.comis deemed to constitute 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.trustpixs.com and the respective page https://my.trustpixs.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "Trust Pixs Limited" as mentioned on the website www.trustpixs.com 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 www.trustpixs.com website and relevant https://my.trustpixs.com page, 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.

3 March 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona