Resolution no. 23174

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://investousit.com website and its https://clientzone.investousit.com and https://webtrader.investousit.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:

i. the website https://investousit.com is active and offers the possibility of trading forex, CFDs and shares;

ii. to carry out such trading, users must register on the website through the domain https://clientzone.investousit.com, and subsequently open a trading account;

iii. the trading platform is available on the pagehttps://webtrader.investousit.com;

iv. regarding traceability, in the website https://investousit.com, there are generic references to "Investousit".

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://investousit.com and the respective pages https://clientzone.investousit.com and https://webtrader.investousit.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 operations undertaken via the website https://investousit.com and the relative pages https://clientzone.investousit.com and https://webtrader.investousit.com are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian via automatic translation, given that contact with Italian customers has been reported including via messaging systems; it was further noted that no mechanisms were found to block registration by users attempting to register on the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses, with reports received from investors who have complained, among other things, that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS the https://investousit.com website and its pages https://clientzone.investousit.com and https://webtrader.investousit.com cannot 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 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 via the https://investousit.com website and its pages https://clientzone.investousit.comand https://webtrader.investousit.com, which constitute the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the public through publication in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of publication.

19 June 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona