Resolution no. 23301

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 https://continental-invest.ltd website and its page https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd

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://continental-invest.ltd website, which is active and registered anonymously, offers potential investors the possibility to perform trading on CFDs relating to cryptocurrencies, shares, indices and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://continental-invest.ltd - through a procedure that is available, also for Italian users, on the page https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd - and open an account; specifically, the website https://continental-invest.ltd mentions four type of accounts, known as "Standard", "Silver", "Gold" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iii. the reserved area of the website https://continental-invest.ltd, also available in Italian at the aforementioned domain https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd, contains specific features, including the one dedicated to depositing and withdrawing money on the trading account;

iv. as regards traceability, the "Terms and Conditions" of the https://continental-invest.ltd website indicate that the contractual counterparty of the user operating through the aforementioned platform is " Continental Invest Ltd";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://continental-invest.ltd website and the related https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd 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 such activity, which is carried out via the website https://continental-invest.ltd and its page https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd, is still ongoing and also aimed at Italian investors, as reports were received of contacts in relation to the website https://continental-invest.ltd by means of remote communication techniques, i.e. cold calling, of retail investors in Italy; Furthermore, in the website https://continental-invest.ltd it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register with the same website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who claimed that they were unable to get their money back to trade on the mentioned platform;

WHEREAS the https://continental-invest.ltd website and its webpage https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd could not 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 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://continental-invest.ltd website and its https://cfd.continental-invest.ltd page, constituted by the offer and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the parties concerned with publication in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days of the date of service.

23 October 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona