Resolution no. 22616

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 www.axi24.com and the relevant page https://platform2.axi24.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:

i. the website www.axi24.com – which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities and shares;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.axi24.com – through a procedure available, including for Italian users, on the page https://platform2.axi24.com, which can be reached directly from the site’s homepage www.axi24.com – then open a trading account and deposit the relevant funds;

iii. as for traceability, the site www.axi24.com contains generic references to "Axi24" along with two email addresses;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.axi24.com and relevant webpage https://platform2.axi24.com is deemed to constitute 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 website www.axi24.com and the relevant page https://platform2.axi24.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the site www.axi24.com is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy regarding the activities of the website www.axi24.com. Moreover, complaints have been received from Italian savers who reported not being able to withdraw the funds that we deposited to trade on the website www.axi24.com, and no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the website www.axi24.com from Italy/via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS "Axi24", mentioned on the website www.axi24.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the dedicated register held by Consob pursuant to art. 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 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 conducted through the www.axi24.com website and the relevant https://platform2.axi24.com webpage, consisting in offering and providing 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.

1st March 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona