Resolution no. 23089

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://russellgroupfx.com website and its https://client.russellgroupfx.com, https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com and https://wt.russellgroupfx.com pages

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. the website https://russellgroupfx.com offers investors the possibility to trade forex instruments and shares, indices, commodities and digital currencies;
2. to carry out such trading activity, users must register on the website https://russellgroupfx.com, through the domain https://client.russellgroupfx.com, and subsequently open a trading account; In particular, three account types are offered ('First Level’', 'Pro' and 'Extra Pro'), differentiated by expected deposit amount and operational characteristics;
3. after registration, you can access the pages https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com and https://wt.russellgroupfx.com, where the trading platform is available;
4. as to traceability, within the website https://russellgroupfx.com and the pages https://client.russellgroupfx.com, https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com, https://wt.russellgroupfx.com there are generic references to 'RussellGroupFX' and, as a means of contact, a number of e-mail boxes are indicated (support@russellgroupfx.com, docs@russellgroupfx.com, call@russellgroupfx.com, finance@russellgroupfx.com).

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://russellgroupfx.com and the respective pages https://client.russellgroupfx.com, https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com, https://wt.russellgroupfx.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the above domain allows users to trade financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described operations are still in progress as well as aimed at the public of Italian investors, since the aforesaid domains were available in the Italian language by means of automatic translation systems and contact activities were reported to Italian investors (in particular, by means of cold calling and sending emails in the Italian language);

WHEREAS the website https://russellgroupfx.com and its related pages https://client.russellgroupfx.com, https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com, https://wt.russellgroupfx.com may not be linked to any entity authorised to provide investment services and activities to the Italian public, given that the company “RussellGroupFX” which is mentioned in the domains mentioned above, does not appear on the register kept 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 the cessation of the infringement”;

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. 58/1998 carried out through the https://russellgroupfx.com website and the https://client.russellgroupfx.com, https://webtrader.russellgroupfx.com and https://wt.russellgroupfx.com pages, constituted by the offering 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.

24 April 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona