Resolution no. 22881

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 https://powercapital.live website and the respective web pages https://my.powercapital.live and https://my.tradings.life

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:                                                                                                                    

1. the https://powercapital.live website, which is active and registered to an unknown user, is split into the sections "Platforms", "Products" and "About us" and offers the possibility of trading Forex, shares, indices, digital currencies and commodities, after registering and opening one of the advertised trading accounts ("Starter", "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum" and "ECN");
2. after registration, the reserved area of the website can be accessed at https://my.powercapital.live that consists of 6 sections ("Dashboard", "Deposit", "Start trading immediately", "Withdraw funds", "Customer Support" and "Upload documents") and where there is a special function for making cash deposits into the trading account;
3. users can access the additional reserved area, available at https://my.tradings.life, with their login credentials for the https://powercapital.live website, in order to make use of the trading platform;
4. with regard to the legal entity to which the transaction in question can be traced, it should be noted that the "Terms and Conditions" contain a reference to the company "Nexus LLC., a ST. Vincent and the Grenadines company incorporated under company number: REG 1070 LLC 2021" with the address "Suite 305, Grifith Corporate Centre, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines", a form for requesting information and references to the email address support@powercapital.live;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://powercapital.live website and the https://my.powercapital.live and https://my.tradings.life pages may be considered as the provision of investment services, pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are given the opportunity, through the above-mentioned domains, of opening a trading account, on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be placed;

WHEREAS, the above-mentioned activity, which is carried out via the https://powercapital.live website and the https://my.powercapital.live and https://my.tradings.life pages, is aimed at Italian investors as the aforesaid domains are also available in Italian through an automatic translation system, various complaints have been received from Italian investors who, inter alia, have reported cold calls made to the Italian public and complained that it is impossible to obtain the return of the sums paid-in and that no mechanisms have been put in place to prevent registration by users attempting to register on the domains from Italy using Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the abovementioned internet 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 operations in question qualify as the professional provision of investment services to the Italian public, in infringement 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 through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such 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 carried out via the https://powercapital.live website and the https://my.powercapital.live and https://my.tradings.life pages, which constitute 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.

8 November 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona