Resolution no. 23366

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://asteo-group.com website

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://asteo-group.com website - which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian through an automatic translation system - to trade in contracts for difference (CFDs) with underlying currencies, shares, commodities and indices via Metatrader 4 and Metatrader5 trading platforms;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://asteo-group.com website - through a process that is also available to users connected to the web from Italy via Italian IP addresses - open an account and deposit the relevant funds;

iii. in particular, the https://asteo-group.com website mentions three types of account referred to as "Standard", "Premium" and "Vip", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as to traceability, the https://asteo-group.com website contains references to "Asteo Trade", and an email address (support@asteo- group.com) is provided;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://asteo-group.com website is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through said domain to open a trading account and place orders on it to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity, carried out via the https://asteo- group.com website, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, as the https://asteo-group.com website is also available in Italian through an automatic translation system. In addition, there have been reports of contacts with Italian retail investors who also submitted a copy of the conversations in Italian through emails exchanged with "Asteo Trade" operators. Likewise, complaints were received from Italian retail investors who claimed that they were unable to obtain a refund of the money deposited to trade via the https://asteo-group.com website;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the https://asteo-group.com website 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 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 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 carried out via the https://asteo-group.com website, 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 from the communication.

18 December 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona