Resolution no. 22450

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://fincloud.life and the respective webpage https://webtrader.fn-trade.link

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://fincloud.life website – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices and commodities as well as shares;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://fincloud.life – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users at the page https://webtrader.fn-trade.link – and open an account and deposit the necessary funds;

iii. in particular, the https://fincloud.life website lists six types of account, referred to as "Start", "Standard", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum" and "Diamond", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefitspromised;

iv. as regards ownership, the footer of the https://fincloud.life website states that "This site is owned by Surreptitious Group LLC", with its registered office in Saint Vincent and Grenadines. Moreover, the "Contacts" section of the website https://fincloud.life includes a telephone number specifically dedicated to Italian users ("+390507620110");

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolutions no. 22181 of 27 January 2022, no. 22277 of 24 March 2022 and no. 22405 of 13 July 2022, which ordered Surreptitious Group LLC, with its registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://fincloud.capital, via the domain https://fincloud.center and respective https://webtrader.fincloud.live webpage as well as via the additional website https://fincloud.world;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially similar to the domains of the websites https://fincloud.capital, of the separate domain https://fincloud.center and its https://webtrader.fincloud.live web page as well as the additional website https://fincloud.world, the https://fincloud.life website, replicates the content and graphic format of the same domains https://fincloud.capital, https://fincloud.center and https://webtrader.fincloud.live as well as https://fincloud.world;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://fincloud.life website and relevant https://webtrader.fn-trade.link 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, carried out through the website https://fincloud.life and the relevant page https://webtrader.fn-trade.link, is still ongoing and is addressed to Italian investors, insofar as the website https://fincloud.life may also be consulted in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the https://fincloud.life website from Italy/Italian IP addresses. In addition, the https://fincloud.life website shows a telephone number specifically dedicated to Italian users and complaints have also been received from Italian investors in relation to the initiatives promoted through the same https://fincloud.life website;

WHEREAS Surreptitious Group LLC, with its registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear 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 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 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://fincloud.life and the relevant page https://webtrader.fn-trade.link, which constitutes the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the public through publication in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days.

14 September 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona