Resolution no. 22457

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 www.investunionltd.io website and related https://client.investunionltd.io web page

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 website www.investunionltd.io, which is active and available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility to trade, also in automated mode, CFDs on currencies, cryptocurrencies, shares, indices and commodities;

ii. in order to be able to trade, registration – by filling in the form available at the address https://client.investunionltd.io – and opening of an account to deposit funds in are required. In particular, three types of accounts are advertised, called “Primo Livello”, “Premium” and “Lusso”, depending on the associated benefits;

iii. the reserved area for registered users, available at the address https://client.investunionltd.io, consists of eight sections ("Dashboard", "Depositare", "Modifica profilo", “Depositi", "Prelievi", "Bank details", "Verification" and "Invitation") and contains features for depositing and withdrawing cash from the trading account as well as a "Referral Link" to invite potential new users;

iv. the website www.investunionltd.io and its page https://client.investunionltd.io mention “Invest Union Ltd”, without any indication of its registered office;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22343 of 25 May 2022, which ordered the company to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.investunionltd.com and its page https://client.investunionltd.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.investunionltd.io and the relevant page https://client.investunionltd.io – whose domains are partially superimposable on those of the aforementioned www.investunionltd.com and https://client.investunionltd.com –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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders relating to financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.investunionltd.io and the respective page https://client.investunionltd.io, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the mentioned site may be consulted in Italian, and there have also been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy. In addition, no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration with the same domains by users who attempt to register from Italy through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the company “Invest Union Ltd”, 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 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 article 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 - entitled “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 website www.investunionltd.io and the respective page https://client.investunionltd.io, constituted by 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.

21 September 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona