Resolution no. 22383

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://levelprofit.com and https://levelprofit.vip websites and relevant https://account.tradingplatform26.com webpage

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 24 February 1998 (“Consolidated Law on Finance”) and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. by typing in the domain https://levelprofit.com, you are automatically redirected to a further domain https://levelprofit.vip, which is available in Italian, where potential investors are offered the opportunity, after opening an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs on currencies, commodities, indices and "many other things";

ii. in order to be able to trade, users are invited to register with the website, then access their personal area at https://account.tradingplatform26.com and open an account by transferring funds; in particular, the advertised accounts “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Diamond” differ according to the minimum deposit required and the features offered;

iii. in the website’s reserved area, which has no mechanisms for blocking the registration of users connecting from Italy, users are then redirected to the trading platform;

iv. the Cypriot company "Levelprofit" is indicated on the pages of the https://levelprofit.vip website, which is allegedly subject - according to what is reported on the pages examined - to Cypriot, English and Cayman Islands legislation;

v. moreover, the https://levelprofit.com domain, which redirects to the https://levelprofit.vip website, is indicated in the "list of non-approved domains" published by CySEC;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://levelprofit.com and https://levelprofit.vip websites and relative https://account.tradingplatform26.com webpage, constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are presented with the possibility through the aforementioned domains of opening a trading account and placing orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments; 2

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://levelprofit.com and https://levelprofit.vip websites and relative https://account.tradingplatform26.com webpage, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the domains examined are available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register from Italy/through Italian IP addresses. Moreover, there have been reports of investment solicitation by cold calling retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the company named “Levelprofit” mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since 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 licensed 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 article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of art. 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract abuse” - Consob “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease”;

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. 58/1998 carried out through the https://levelprofit.com and https://levelprofit.vip websites and relevant https://account.tradingplatform26.com webpage, 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 June 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona