Resolution no. 22586

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.swissfxbank.live website and its https://platform.swissfxbank.live 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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.swissfxbank.live website to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, commodities and indices via a trading platform;

i. in order to carry out the aforementioned transactions, users must open an account after registering with the website, through a procedure that is available to users who connect from Italy to the https://platform.swissfxbank.live page - which can be translated into Italian through automatic systems - through which users access their reserved area where they can deposit sums of money and access the trading platform. The website offers four types of account - which differ, among other things, in the minimum deposit required - known as "Standard" "Professional", "Business" and "Business Plus";

iii. as to the traceability of the www.swissfxbank.live website, in addition to generic references to "SwissFX Bank", the website's contractual terms mention an "Agreement...between the customer and SwissFXBank Limited" whose registered office is not indicated;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.swissfxbank.live website and its https://platform.swissfxbank.live page 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 above activity, carried out through the www.swissfxbank.live website and its https://platform.swissfxbank.live page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that cold calling of Italian customers has been reported, no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the abovementioned domains cannot be attributed to any party 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 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 www.swissfxbank.live website and its https://platform.swissfxbank.live page, which constitutes the offer 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.

8 February 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona