Resolution no. 22761

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://theactivetrades.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, 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://theactivetrades.com - which is active and also available in Italian - offers potential investors the possibility of trading currencies, indices, commodities and shares via a dedicated trading platform;
2. in order to place such trading transactions, users must register with the website https://theactivetrades.com and open a trading account on which to deposit funds; specifically, 4 different types of accounts are advertised on the website ("Argento", "Oro", "Diamante" and "Vip" ["Silver", "Gold", "Diamond" and "VIP"]), the characteristics of which vary, among other things, according to the necessary deposit;
3. as regards the traceability of the website https://theactivetrades.com, reference is made to "The Active Trades Ltd", with alleged registered office in the United Kingdom;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22417 of 20 July 2022, whereby it was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://theactivetraders.com and its page https://client.theactivetraders.com;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22470 of 5 October 2022, whereby it was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://theactivetraderz.com and its page https://client.theactivetraderz.com;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22601 of 14 February 2023, whereby it was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://theactivetrade.com and its page https://client.theactivetrade.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned websites https://theactivetraders.com, https://theactivetraderz.com and https://theactivetrade.com, the https://theactivetrades.com website replicates the content and graphic format of the former ones;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://theactivetrades.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;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website https://theactivetrades.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is available in Italian, and reports of cold calling of Italian customers have been received, along with complaints from Italian savers;

WHEREAS the company mentioned on the https://theactivetrades.com website, 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 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";

HAVING ESTABLISHED, 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 the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the https://theactivetrades.com website, 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 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.

26 June 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona