Resolution no. 23549 of 7/5/2025

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://smartsolutionsbot.com website and its page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.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, from checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. the https://smartsolutionsbot.com website - which is active, also available in Italian through a translation system integrated into the website and registered anonymously - offers potential investors the possibility to trade on options and CFDs, relating to indices and on Forex;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com - by means of a procedure available, also for Italian users, at the page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.com – and - open a trading account; specifically, three types of account are available on the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com, known as "Classico (Classic)", "Argento (Silver)" and "Oro (Gold)" depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. within the reserved area of the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com, which is available in Italian through a translation system integrated at the aforementioned domain https://my.smartsolutionsbot.com, there are specific features, including the one dedicated to depositing and withdrawing money on the trading account;

iv. regarding traceability, in the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com, there are generic references to an entity called "Smart Solutions Bot", with no indication of its legal form, its registered office or email address;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via https://smartsolutionsbot.com website and the related https://my.smartsolutionsbot.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 through the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com and its related page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com and its page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.com are available in Italian through an automatic machine translation system integrated into the website and that cold calling of Italian consumers by parties operating on behalf of the aforementioned website and Italian retail investors has also been reported aimed at making them subscribe to the initiatives promoted on the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com. In addition, no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com from Italy through Italian IP addresses and a complaint was received from an Italian retail investor who complained that he was unable to get back the money used to trade on the aforementioned platform;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the website https://smartsolutionsbot.com and on its page https://my.smartsolutionsbot.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://smartsolutionsbot.com website and its https://my.smartsolutionsbot.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.

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona