Resolution no. 22503

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.mtinvesting.com website

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 www.mtinvesting.com website - which is active and also available in Italian - offers potential investors the possibility of trading CFDs on currencies, shares and indices via a trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trading transactions, users must register with the www.mtinvesting.com website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, open a trading account and deposit relevant funds; specifically, five different types of accounts are advertised on the website, known as "Apprendista", "Intermedio", "Superiore", "Distinto" ("Apprentice", "Intermediate", "Advanced", "Distinguished") and "VIP", which differ, among other things, according to the required deposit. After registering, users can access the reserved area of the website where they can make deposits into their account and access the trading platform;

iii. as for the traceability of the www.mtinvesting.com website, there is a generic reference on the website to "MTinvesting" with its alleged registered address in Canada;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.mtinvesting.com website is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.mtinvesting.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said website is available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the www.mtinvesting.com websiteis not linked to any entity 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 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 via the www.mtinvesting.com website, 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 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.

9 November 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona