Resolution no. 23313

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 through the https://incore-investment.net website and the page https://client.incore-investment.net

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, after opening an account, through the website https://incore-investment.net, which is active, available also in Italian and registered anonymously, to trade forex, shares, indices, CFDs, digital currencies and commodities via a trading platform;

ii. four types of accounts are advertised on the website named "Microconto (Micro-account)", "Conto Standard (Standard Account)", "Account Premium" and "Conto VIP (VIP Account)", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after registration, users can access the reserved area of the website available at the address https://client.incore-investment.net, where it is possible to make deposits on the trading account;

iv. with regard to the legal entity to which the website refers, it should be noted that there are generic references in it to "INCORE INVESTMENT";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website https://incore-investment.net and the page https://client.incore-investment.net is deemed to constitute 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders relating to financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the website https://incore-investment.net and the page https://client.incore-investment.net is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is active, available also in Italian, and that interaction with Italian consumers has also been reported; furthermore no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register from Italy also through Italian IP addresses and reports have been received from Italian individuals who have complained that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS such activity carried out via the website https://incore-investment.net and the page https://client.incore-investment.net cannot be attributed to any entity that is 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 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 through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such 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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://incore-investment.net and the page https://client.incore-investment.net, which constitutes 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.

13 November 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona