Resolution no. 22318

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.globecfd.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. the www.globecfd.com website, which is active and also available in Italian through machine translation, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs with underlying currencies, indices, shares, cryptocurrencies and commodities through a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to place such transactions, users must register with the website www.globecfd.com, through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. there are three types of account mentioned on the www.globecfd.com site, known as ‘Mini’, ‘Classic’, and ‘Premium’, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as for traceability, the website contains generic references to "Globecfds"; the "Terms and Conditions" section of the said www.globecfds.com domain states that "The terms indicated must be understood according to the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands";

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22039 of 13 October 2021, which ordered "Globecfds" to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.globecfds.com and the relevant pagehttps://client.globecfds.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on that of the above www.globecfds.com website, the www.globecfd.com domain replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.globecfds.com site;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.globecfd.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services within the meaning of 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 www.globecfd.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the site is also available in Italian through machine translation and there have also been reports ofcold calling of retail investors in Italy regarding the same website;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the www.globecfd.com website cannot be attributed to any entity that is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public on a commercial basis. Specifically, "Globecfds", which is mentioned on the www.globecfd.com website, is not registered on the list 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.globecfd.com website, consisting in the offering 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.

27 April 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona