Resolution no. 23126

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 via the website www.vantagecfd.com and the related page https://wt.vantagecfd.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 checks conducted on the website www.vantagecfd.com showed that:

1. the same is active and offers the possibility of trading forex, commodities, ETFs and shares;
2. in order to be able to trade via the www.vantagecfd.com website, users must register through the https://wt.vantagecfd.com login page;
3. as to traceability, at the bottom of the pages of the website www.vantagecfd.com there are references to the Top Markets Ltd with its alleged registered office in Hong Kong;

HAVING REGARD to Resolutions no. 22732 of 8.6.2023 and no. 23048 of 21.3.2024, whereby Top Markets Ltd with its alleged registered office in Hong Kong, was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out, respectively, through the websites www.fusionfx24.com and the relevant page http://my.fusionfx24.com and https://imperialcap24.com and the relevant page https://wt.imperialcap24.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the www.vantagecfd.com website with its page https://wt.vantagecfd.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services as per Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, as customers are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account on which they can place purchase and/or sell orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website www.vantagecfd.com with its pagehttps://wt.vantagecfd.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is also available in Italian via automatic translation systems. In addition, there have been reports of interactions between www.vantagecfd.com website operators and an Italian investor aimed at soliciting investments on the same website and likewise the absence of mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register with the above-mentioned website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses has been noted;

WHEREAS the abovementioned internet domains cannot be attributed to any party authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 carried out through the www.vantagecfd.com website and its page https://wt.vantagecfd.com, consisting in 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.

22 May 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona