Resolution no. 22442

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 via the website https://tedex.co and the respective webpage webtrader.tedex.cc

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 https://tedex.co website, which is also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade on the forex market and trade CFDs on, inter alia, indices, shares and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://tedex.co website, then open an account and deposit the necessary funds; specifically, three types of account are advertised, known as “Standard”, “Professionale” and "Elite", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after registering on the https://tedex.co website, users are granted access to the reserved area, which is available at the address webtrader.tedex.cc, and which provides several functions, including one for depositing funds on the trading account;

iv. as regards the traceability of the https://tedex.co website, the footer of its webpages states that “This website is owned and operated by Vermillion Consulting LLC”, with reported registered offices in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://tedex.co website and relevant webtrader.tedex.cc 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 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 is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://tedex.co website is also available in Italian and, moreover, no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register on the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses. In addition, there have been reports of Italian customers being contacted using remote communication techniques (so-called cold calling) and complaints have also been received from Italian retail investors regarding the initiatives promoted through the website https://tedex.co and the relevant page webtrader.tedex.cc.

WHEREAS the activity cannot be attributed to any party that is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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 https://tedex.co website and its webtrader.tedex.cc com webpage, 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.

6 September 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona