Resolution no. 22730

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance committed via the website https://primecapital.pro

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, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD to Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance"), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the web, it emerged that:

1. the website https://primecapital.pro – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares and commodities through a dedicated trading platform;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://primecapital.pro, open an account and deposit relevant funds;
3. in particular, the website https://primecapital.pro mentions three types of account referred to as "Initial", "Shallow" and "Deep", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;
4. as to traceability, a general reference is made to "PrimeCapital" on the website https://primecapital.pro;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://primecapital.pro is to be considered as provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through said domain to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity, carried out via the website https://primecapital.pro, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, as the website https://primecapital.pro is also available in Italian. In addition, the e-mail address compliance.it@primecapital.pro specifically dedicated to Italian users can be found within the website;

WHEREAS the website https://primecapital.pro cannot be linked to any entity authorised to engage in the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public, since the company "PrimeCapital", referred to on the above-mentioned website, 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";

CONSIDERING therefore that the operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in breach 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 to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the breach";

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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed via the website https://primecapital.pro, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of 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 June 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona