Resolution no. 22830

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the breach of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out via the website https://xtb-empire.com and its related pages https://client.xtb-empire.com https://webtrader.xtb-empire.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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website https://xtb-empire.com – which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade in derivatives such as CFDs on currencies, shares, indices, bonds, digital currencies and commodities;
2. in order to carry out the aforementioned trading, users are required to register and open an account where they can deposit relevant funds; in particular, four types of account are mentioned, called "Silver", "Gold", "Diamond" and "VIP" ("Argento", "Oro", "Diamante" and "Vip"), depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;
3. following registration, users access the reserved area of the website, which can be reached at the URL https://client.xtb-empire.com; the address https://webtrader.xtb- empire.com turns out to be the page dedicated to accessing the website's trading platform https://xtb-empire.com;
4. as for the traceability of the website’s operations, the contractual document "Terms and Conditions" states: "this website is operated by XTB Empire LTD", allegedly having its registered office in the United Kingdom;

HAVING REGARD to resolution no. 22694 of 11 May 2023, whereby the order was given to the above-mentioned XTB Empire Ltd to cease the breach of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://xtbempire.com and its page https://client.xtbempire.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned https://xtbempire.com website, the https://xtb-empire.com website replicates the content and graphic format of the former website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://xtb-empire.com website and relative https://client.xtb-empire.com and https://webtrader.xtb-empire.com webpages, constitutes 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described activity, carried out via the website https://xtb- empire.com and its pages https://client.xtb-empire.com and https://webtrader.xtb-empire.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the aforesaid domains are available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy regarding the initiatives promoted via the website https://xtb-empire.com. Furthermore, complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who complained about not being able to obtain a refund of the capital deposited to trade via the website https://xtb-empire.com and it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register with the website https://xtb-empire.com from Italy through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS "XTB Empire LTD", mentioned on the https://xtb-empire.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 website https://xtb-empire.com and its pages https://client.xtb-empire.com and https://webtrader.xtb-empire.com constituted by the offer 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.

5 October 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona