Resolution no. 22852

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 committed via the www.europetrade.me website and its page https://wt.europetrade.me

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.europetrade.me website, which is active and available in Italian via automatic translation systems, offers potential investors the possibility to trade CFDs on currencies, futures, indices, shares and commodities via a trading platform;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the www.europetrade.me website through a procedure that is also available to Italian users, then open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds. After registering on the said website, customers can log in to the restricted area at https://wt.europetrade.me, where there is a specific function for depositing funds into the trading account;
3. in terms of traceability of the www.europetrade.me website, there are several generic references in the domain to “EuropeTrade”, purportedly based in the United Kingdom, while, at the bottom of the pages of the website, it is stated that “EuropeTrade” is a trade name of “Top Markets Ltd”', a company registered in Hong Kong;

HAVING REGARD to Consob Resolution no. 22732 of 8 June 2023, whereby said Top Markets Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the separate website www.fuslonfx24.com and its page https://my.fuslonfx24.com;

WHEREAS the www.europetrade.me website reproduces the content and graphic format of the www.fuslonfx24.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the www.europetrade.me website and its page https://wt.europetrade.me is to be considered as provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar 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 aforementioned activity, which is carried out via the www.europetrade.me website and its page https://wt.europetrade.me is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, as said website is available in Italian via automatic translation systems and no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register on the website from Italy/via Italian IP addresses. In addition, contact with Italian customers using remote communication techniques was reported and complaints were received from Italian savers who claimed that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS the abovementioned domains cannot be attributed to any party 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 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 www.europetrade.me website and its page https://wt.europetrade.me, 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