Resolution no. 23211

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 website www.fsi.cmand the respective web pages https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the website www.fsi.cm, which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously, offers potential investors - after opening an account - the opportunity to trade forex, CFDs, shares, commodities, indices and digital currencies through a trading platform;

ii. two types of account are proposed on the website, known as "Standard" and "Express Plan", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iii. once registered, users access the restricted area of the website athttps://client.fsi.cm where it is possible to make deposits to the trading account and select the "Access" link, which redirected them to the trading platform, which can be found at https://webtrader.fsi.cm;

iv. with regard to the legal entity to which the website refers, it should be noted that there are generic references in it to "First State Investments (Ireland) Limited";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website awww.fsi.cm and the relative pages https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm may be considered as the provision of investment services, pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are given the opportunity, through the above-mentioned domains, of opening a trading account, on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be placed;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the website www.fsi.cm and the relative pages https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is active, also available in Italian, and that interaction with Italian consumers has also been reported; furthermore no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses and reports have been received from Italian individuals who have complained, among other things, that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the website www.fsi.cmand the relative pages https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm cannot be attributed to any entity that is authorised to professionally 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 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. 58/98 carried out through the www.fsi.cm website and relevant https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm webpages, which constitutes 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.

17 July 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona