Resolution no. 23039

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 https://fx-flat.com website and its page https:/panel.fx-flat.com

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

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:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website https://fx-flat.com, which is active and available in Italian, to trade forex, indices, shares, commodities and digital currencies via a trading platform;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, users must fill in a registration form available at the address https://panel.fx-flat.com and open a trading account; specifically, four types of account are available, known as " Silver Account ", " Gold Account ", "Platinum Account " and " Conto Privilegiato (Privileged Account)", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. with regard to the legal entity to which the website refers, it should be noted that within it there is an indication of the email address info@fx-flat.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://fx-flat.com and the relevant webpage https://panel.fx-flat.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services, within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, inasmuch as the website offers the possibility of opening a trading account and placing buy and/or sales orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website https://fx-flat.com and its page https://panel.fx-flat.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is active and available in Italian, and reports of cold calling of Italian customers have been received;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the website https://fx-flat.com and the relevant page https://panel.fx-flat.com cannot be attributed to any entity that is 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 commercial 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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://fx-flat.com and its page https://panel.fx-flat.com, which constitutes 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.

13 March 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona