Consob resolution no. 23488 of March 26, 2025 - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
resolution
Resolution no. 23488
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 www.pimmtf.com website
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 www.pimmtf.com website – which is active, available also in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, indices and commodities, via a trading platform;
ii. to place trading transactions, users must register with the aforementioned website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account; specifically, two different types of account are advertised on the website ("Rasoio" [Razor] and "Standard") differ in terms of the envisaged fees;
iii. as to the traceability of the aforementioned operations, the website www.pimmtf.com refers to Pim Mtf Markets Limited with its alleged registered office in Colorado and the email address pimmtf@gmail.com is provided;
WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.pimmtf.com constitutes the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;
WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the website www.pimmtf.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian and that no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses; in relation to said website, interaction with Italian customers was reported and complaints were received from Italian subjects;
WHEREAS the website www.pimmtf.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 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, paragraph 1, 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 carried out via the www.pimmtf.com website, 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.
26 March 2025
THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona