Resolution no. 22851

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 via the www.switchtrades.com website and the https://clientzonearea.accountifft.ppdashboard.webtraderclientzone.com page

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 checks on the web have shown that:

1. the www.switchtrades.com website, which is active and searchable in Italian, offers potential investors the possibility of trading derivatives such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs) on currencies, cryptocurrencies, shares, indices, and commodities;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the www.switchtrades.com website through a procedure that is also available to Italian users, then open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds. In particular, three account types are offered: 'Micro-account', 'Standard' and 'Premium';
3. after registering on the said website, customers can log in to the restricted area at https://clientzonearea.accountifft.ppdashboard.webtraderclientzone.com, which is available in Italian, where there is a specific function for depositing funds into the trading account;
4. in terms of traceability, the www.switchtrades.com website mentions Switchtrades Ltd without providing a registered office address.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the www.switchtrades.com.com website and the page https://clientzonearea.accountifft.ppdashboard.webtraderclientzone.com is to be considered as provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, 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 activity described above, which is carried out via the www.switchtrades.com.com website and its https://clientzonearea.accountifft.ppdashboard.webtraderclientzone.com page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the aforesaid domains are available in Italian and that there have been reports of cold calling by e-mail to retail investors in Italy in relation to the initiatives promoted through the abovementioned website. Furthermore, it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register from Italy through Italian IP addresses and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who complained about not being able to obtain a refund of the sums of money deposited;

WHEREAS Switchtrades Ltd, which is mentioned on the www.switchtrades.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 activities 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 provisions of Article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services” - pursuant to which 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 that the infringement cease”;

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 breach of Article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the website www.switchtrades.com and the page https://clientzonearea.accountifft.ppdashboard.webtraderclientzone.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.

18 October 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
>Paolo Savona