Resolution no. 22559

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://eccapitals.com website and the relative https://ec-capitals.com and https://webtrader.eccapitals.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 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 https://eccapitals.com, which is partially available in Italian - offers potential investors the possibility negotiate on the forex market and trade CFDs on underlying assets such as shares, currencies and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, a user must register with the https://eccapitals.com website and open an account; specifically, four types of account are advertised, known as “Bronze ”, “Silver ”, “Gold” and “ Platinum ”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. upon completion of the registration procedure, access is granted to the reserved area of the website, also available in Italian on the page https://ec-capitals.com, starting from which access is granted to a trading platform that can be reached on the next page https://webtrader.eccapitals.com ;

iv. as for the traceability, within the website https://eccapitals.com there are references to “ECC Corp LLC” and the indication of a location at St Vincent and the Grenadines and the “support@eccapitals.com” mailbox.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://eccapitals.com website and relative https://ec-capitals.com and https://webtrader.eccapitals.com pages 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 said domains of opening a trading account where they can place buy and/or sell orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the internet domains in question are also partially available in Italian and, moreover, no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register on the websites from Italy through Italian IP addresses. Moreover, in relation to the operation in question, reports have been received of investment solicitation by cold calling towards retail investors in Italy, and complaints have been received from Italian subjects;

WHEREAS the https://eccapitals.com website and relative https://ec-capitals.com and https://webtrader.eccapitals.com webpages cannot be attributed 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 for 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 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 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 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 https://eccapitals.com website and relevant https://ec-capitals.com and https://webtrader.eccapitals.com pages, which constitutes the offering and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those whom it concerns and will be 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.

11 January 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona