Resolution no. 22520

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 https://financecapitalfx.com website and relative https://client.financecapitalfx.com, https://webtrader.financecapitalfx.com webpages

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 24 February 1998 (“Consolidated Law on Finance”) and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that checks on the internet ascertained that:

i. the https://financecapitalfx.com website, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity, subject to prior opening of an account, to trade CFDs on underlying currencies, indices, shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies via a dedicated platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://financecapitalfx.com website, through a procedure that is also available to Italian users and routes users to the https://client.financecapitalfx.com webpage to open an account;

iii. after registering, users can access the reserved area of the website, where by selecting the "Login" link, the user is redirected to the tradingplatform accessible at the web address: https://webtrader.financecapitalfx.com;

iv. as for traceability, among other things, there are references on the website to FinanceCapitalFX Cyprus Ltd;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://financecapitalfx.com website and related https://client.financecapitalfx.com and https://webtrader.financecapitalfx.com webpages 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 https://financecapitalfx.com website and related https://client.financecapitalfx.com and https://webtrader.financecapitalfx.com webpages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said domains may also be consulted in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the https://financecapitalfx.com website from Italy/Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the company FinanceCapitalFX Cyprus Ltd, which is mentioned on the website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it does not appear on the register kept 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 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 - “Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services” - Consob “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over 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. 58/98 carried out via the https://financecapitalfx.com website and related https://client.financecapitalfx.com and https://webtrader.financecapitalfx.com webpages, which constitute 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.

23 November 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona