Resolution no. 22327

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.tradebaionics.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.tradebaionics.com website, which is also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs relating to currencies and cryptocurrencies via the MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5 platforms;

ii. in order to trade as mentioned above, users must register with the www.tradebaionics.com website – through a procedure available if they have a "reference code" – and open one of the tradingaccounts advertised on the website itself called, "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum", "Diamond", "Prize", "VIP" and "Islamic", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. as for the traceability of the transactions in question, there are generic references on the www.tradebaionics.com website to “Tradebaionics”;

iv. the contacts section of the website contains, among other things, a form for requesting information, the email address support@tradebaionics.com as well as an address located in the United Kingdom;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.tradebaionics.com constitutes 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.tradebaionics.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS “Tradebaionics” is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed in 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 www.tradebaionics.com, constituted by 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.

4 May 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona