Resolution no. 23179

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://fusionlots.com website and its page https://platform.fusionlots-techp.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 checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. the https://fusionlots.com website, which is active and registered anonymously, offers potential investors the possibility to perform trading on shares and CFDs relating to indices, shares, digital currencies and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://fusionlots.com - through a process that is also available for Italian users on the page https://platform.fusionlots-techp.com - and open an account; specifically, seven types of account are mentioned on the website https://fusionlots.com, known as "Standard \" Bronzo (Bronze)"," Argento (Silver)"," Oro (Gold)"," Platino (Platinum)", " Pro "and " VIP ", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. the reserved area of the website https://fusionlots.com, includes an additional page https://platform.fusionlots-techp.com available in Italian, where there are specific features, including the one dedicated to depositing money on the trading account;

iv. as regards traceability, the "Terms and Conditions" of the https://fusionlots.com website indicate that the contractual counterparty of the user operating through the aforementioned platform is "FusionLots";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://fusionlots.com website and the related https://platform.fusionlots-techp.com webpage constitutes provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the opportunity via 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 website https://fusionlots.com and its pagehttps://platform.fusionlots-techp.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that there have been reports of contacts with Italian investors aimed at getting them to join the initiatives promoted on the website https://fusionlots.com. Furthermore, no mechanism aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the https://fusionlots.com website from Italy via Italian IP addresses was found, and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who complained about not being able to obtain a refund of the capital deposited to trade via the aforementioned platform;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the website https://fusionlots.com and its page https://platform.fusionlots-techp.com are not 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 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 https://fusionlots.com website and its https://platform.fusionlots-techp.com page, constituted by 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.

26 June 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona