Resolution no. 22286

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://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites

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 https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites are active and also available in Italian;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through these sites, to trade CFDs with underlying currencies, shares, indices and commodities, after having opened an account via a registration process which is also available to Italian users;

iii. in order to trade, users must deposit funds in their online account; specifically, all the websites offer various types of account depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised. In particular, the https://sierrainvest.io website lists four types of accountreferred to as “Beginner”, “Advanced”, “Progressive” and “Professional”, while the https://battletrade.pro website mentions three types of accountreferred to as “Mini”, “Standard” and “VIP”;

iv. as to the traceability of the https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites, the company Tetris Group Ltd with its registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica is indicated at the foot of the sites' home pages;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22211 of 16 February 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://clydetrade.pro, https://clydetrade.co, https://sierrainvest.pro and https://battletrade.co websites;

WHEREAS, in addition to using domains that are partially superimposable on those of the aforementioned https://sierrainvest.pro and https://battletrade.co websites, the https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites replicate the content and graphic format of the https://sierrainvest.pro and https://battletrade.co sites respectively;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the websites https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro is deemed to constitute 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 and issuing buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned transactions, carried out through the https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, since these domains can also be consulted in Italian and, moreover, there have also been reports ofcold callingtargeted at retail investors in Italy in relation to the https://sierrainvest.io site;

WHEREAS the company Tetris Group Ltd mentioned on the websites https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not registered on the dedicated register held by CONSOB pursuant to art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract unauthorised activity”- pursuant to which 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 art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the websites https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro, consisting in 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.

31 March 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona