Resolution no. 22308

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 https://investagricol.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 https://investagricol.com website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs relating to currencies;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, it is stated that users must register with the website https://investagricol.com, open an account and make a deposit;

iii. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website https://investagricol.com, named "Di Base", "Standard", "Argento" and "Oro" ("Basic", "Standard", "Silver", "Gold"), depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the footer of the website makes reference to the company Agrico Holdings Limited, with registered office in London;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22158 of 12 January 2022, whereby Agrico Holdings Limited, with its registered address in London, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://investagrico.com and respective web page https://client.investagrico.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain name that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned website https://investagrico.com, the website in question https://investagricol.com replicates the content and graphic format of said website https://investagrico.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://investagricol.com constitutes the provision of investment services according to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described activity, carried out through the https://investagricol.comwebsite, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the site is also available in Italian and there have also been reports ofcold calling of retail investors in Italy regarding the same website;

WHEREAS Agrico Holdings Limited, with registered address in London, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public insofar as 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 website https://investagricol.com, constituted by offering 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.

21 April 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona