Resolution no. 23092

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 through the https://trading42.com website and the page https://panel.trading42.com

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:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website https://trading42.com – which is active, available in Italian via automatic translation systems and registered anonymously – to trade shares, ETFs and options using a trading platform;

ii. in order to place the trades, users must register with the website at the URL https://panel.trading42.com following a procedure that is also available to users connected from Italy, and open a trading account; after registering with the website, access is gained to the reserved area where there is a specific function to deposit funds on the trading account;

iii. as to traceability, the website contains references to the companies Trading42 Ltd and Trading42 Financial Llc, the registered office of which is not known;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://trading42.com website and the page https://panel.trading42.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 above activity, carried out via the https://trading42.com website and its https://panel.trading42.com page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said website is available in Italian via automatic translation systems, the absence of a mechanism to block registration by users attempting to register with the said website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses has been noted, attempts to contact Italian investors have been reported and complaints have also been received from Italian investors;

WHEREAS the https://trading42.com website and its page https://panel.trading42.com may not be attributed to any entity 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 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 https://trading42.com and the page https://panel.trading42.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.

24 April 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona