Resolution no. 22288

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 performed through thewww.newfx.trading website and the relevant https://newfx.tradingweb.io web page

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.newfx.trading website – which is active and registered anonymously – to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities and shares;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the www.newfx.trading website – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – open an account,deposit the necessary funds and access the platform available at the https://newfx.tradingweb.io web page;

iii. in particular, the www.newfx.trading website advertises seven types of account referred to as "Basic", "Discovery", "Silver", "Gold", "Premium", "VIP" and "VIP+", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as for traceability, the brand "NexFX" is mentioned several times on the www.newfx.trading website. In addition, at the bottom of the pages of the www.newfx.trading website it states that "NEWFX is the brand name of Big Horizons Limited, the website owner. The brokerage service is handled by New Forex Limited" and NewFX Limited is mentioned in the "Terms and Conditions";

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22105 of 1 December 2021, which ordered Big Horizons Limited e NewFx Ltd to cease their infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.newfx.co website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned www.newfx.co website, the www.newfx.trading website and relevant https://newfx.tradingweb.io web page replicate the content and graphic format of the said www.newfx.co site;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.newfx.trading website and relevant https://newfx.tradingweb.io web pageconstitutes 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 the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.newfx.trading website and relevant https://newfx.tradingweb.io web page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports in relation to said domains, of cold calling targeted at retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "NexFX", Big Horizons Limited, New Forex Limited e NewFX Limited, all mentioned on the www.newfx.trading website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since they are not listed in 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 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.newfx.trading website and its respective https://newfx.tradingweb.io web page, 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.

31 March 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona