Resolution no. 22451

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 websitehttps://goldmar.co and the respective webpage https://webtrader.gmar.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. through the website https://goldmar.co - which is active and also available in Italian through machine translation - potential investors are offered the opportunity of trading on indices, shares, commodities and contracts on currencies, through a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trading transactions, users must register with the website https://goldmar.co, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account on which to deposit funds; specifically, three different types of accounts are advertised on the website which differ, moreover, according to the required deposit. After registration, users can access the reserved area of the website, where it is possible to make deposits on the trading account and access the trading platform accessible at the address https://webtrader.gmar.cc;

iii. as regards the traceability of the website https://goldmar.co, the footer of the webpages states that "This website is owned and operated by Combobulating Group LLC", with registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://goldmar.co website and the relevant page https://webtrader.gmar.ccconstitutes 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place buy and/or sale orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website https://goldmar.co and the respective webpage https://webtrader.gmar.cc, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said website is available in the Italian language by means of machine translation systems, and that cold calling actions to contact Italian customers have been reported while no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the company mentioned on the https://goldmar.co website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed 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 for licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The commercial 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://goldmar.co and the relevant page https://webtrader.gmar.cc, which constitutes the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the all 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.

14 September 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona