Resolution no. 23303

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://investprocfd.com website and the page https://invest.investprocfd.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.potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website https://investprocfd.com – which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade CFDs, futures, shares, contracts on currencies, cryptocurrencies and commodities using a trading platform;

in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://investprocfd.com website through a procedure that is also available to Italian users, then open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds. In this regard, the website lists four types of accounts ("Standard", "Professional", "Business" and "Business Plus") that differ, among other things, according to the minimum deposit required. After registering, users gain access to the restricted area at the URL https://invest.investprocfd.com where they can, among other things, deposit funds into their trading account;

as to traceability, the website https://investprocfd.com makes generic reference to "Investpro CFD", with no indication of location or telephone numbers but only of the email addresssupport@investprocfd.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://investprocfd.com website and the page https://invest.investprocfd.com is to be considered as provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, as users are offered the opportunity, through 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 website https://investprocfd.com and its page https://invest.investprocfd.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said domains are available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses. In addition, in relation to the website https://investprocfd.com, there have been reports of contacts with Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the abovementioned internet domains cannot be attributed to any party 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 website https://investprocfd.com and the page https://invest.investprocfd.com, consisting in offering and providing 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.

29 October 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona