Resolution no. 23279

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 carried out via the website https://hf-investments.pro and the pages https://hf-investments.trade and https://web.hf-investments.live

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 https://hf-investments.pro website – which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade forex, CFDs, shares, commodities and indices using a trading platform;

ii. in order to place trading transactions, users must register with the website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account; specifically, three different types of account are advertised on the website ("Standard", "Premium" and "Vip") which differ, moreover, according to the minimum required deposit. Following registration, users can access the reserved area, available at https://hf-investments.trade, where they can open a trading account, make deposits and connect to the trading platform, available at https://web.hf-investments.live.

iii. as to traceability, the website contains generic references to "HF Investments" with no indication of the registered office but only of the email addresssupport@hf-investments.pro;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website https://hf-investments.pro and the pages https://hfinvestments.trade and https://web.hf-investments.live constitutes the 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://hf-investments.pro website and the pages https://hf-investments.trade and https://web.hf-investments.live is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian retail investors, insofar as the website is available in Italian and no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register with the same website from Italy, through Italian IP addresses. In addition, attempts to contact Italian investors have been reported and complaints have also been received from Italian investors;

WHEREAS the https://hf-investments.pro website and the pages https://hf-investments.trade and https://web.hf-investments.live cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 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 over the Internet without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the breach";

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 website https://hf-investments.pro and the pages https://hf-investments.trade and https://web.hf-investments.live, consisting in 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.

9 October 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona