Resolution no. 22810

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.impresamarkets.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 www.impresamarkets.com, which is active and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility to trade CFDs on currencies and cryptocurrencies;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.impresamarkets.com, and open a trading account; specifically, eight types of account are advertised, knowns as "Bronzo", "Argento", "Oro", "Platino", "Islamico", "Diamante", "Premio" and "Vip" (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Islamic, Diamond, Premium and VIP), depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
3. as for the traceability of the website www.impresamarkets.com, generic references are made to "ImpresaMarkets", with stated registered office in London;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.impresamarkets.com is deemed to constitute the 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 is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the website www.impresamarkets.com is also available in Italian, and reports were received of contact activity, including emails, from operators of the website www.impresamarkets.com towards Italian savers. In addition, complaints were received from Italian retail investors who claimed that they were unable to receive a refund of deposits made to trade on the online trading platform "ImpresaMarkets";

WHEREAS the website www.impresamarkets.com cannot be attributed to any entity 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 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 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 www.impresamarkets.com, 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.

20 September 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona