Resolution no. 22603

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 website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com

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:

• through the website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com - which is active and also available in Italian through machine translation - potential investors are offered the opportunity of trading CFDs on currencies, cryptocurrencies and options, through a dedicated trading platform;
• in order to place trades, users must register with the https://admiralmarket-ecn.comwebsite via a "Sign Up" link, which refers them to a page available in Italian, in order to access the reserved area;
• as regards the traceability of the website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com, numerous references are made to "AdmiralFX";

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22041 of 13 October 2021, whereby "AdmiralECN Cyprus Ltd" was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.admiralecn.net website;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22042 of 13 October 2021, whereby "AdmiralFX Cyprus Ltd" was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.admiralfx.net website;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22459 of 21 September 2022, whereby the order was given to "AdmiralECN Cyprus Ltd" to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.admirals-ecn.com website and the relevant https://my.mtpexperts.com web page;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially similar to the domain of the aforementioned sites www.admiralecn.net, www.admiralfx.net and www.admirals-ecn.com, the site https://admiralmarket-ecn.com replicates the content and graphic format of the former websites;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com constitutes 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 through the website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://admiralmarket-ecn.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the website and the relevant registration page are available in Italian also by means of machine translation systems and there have been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the "AdmiralFX" company mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed on 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 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://admiralmarket-ecn.comwebsite, 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.

14 February 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona