Resolution no. 23470

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://apolloinvestfx.com and the related page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.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. the https://apolloinvestfx.com website - which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously - offers potential investors the possibility to trade shares and CFDs on commodities, indices, shares and cryptocurrencies;

ii. to place such trades, users must register with the https://apolloinvestfx.com website - by means of a procedure available, inter alia, at the advertising https://affidabiletop.com website as well as on the page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com - and open an account; in particular, five types of account are mentioned on the https://apolloinvestfx.com website, referred to as "Standard", "Argento" (Silver), "Oro" (Gold), "Vip" and "Pro", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. within the reserved area of the website https://apolloinvestfx.com, which is available in Italian at the aforementioned domain https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com, there are specific features, including the one dedicated to depositing and withdrawing money on the trading account as well as the link to a specific trading platform;

iv. as regards traceability, the "Terms and Conditions" of the https://apolloinvestfx.com website generically indicate that the contractual counterparty of the user operating through the aforementioned platform is "Apollo Trade FX";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website https://apolloinvestfx.com and the related webpage https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com constitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, since 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 activity described above, carried out via the website https://apolloinvestfx.com and its related page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the activity of the website https://apolloinvestfx.com has been the subject of an advertising campaign, available in Italian and conducted via the domain https://affidabiletop.com, also through the use of undue references to Italian public figures. In addition, the website https://apolloinvestfx.com and its page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com are available in Italian and no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the same website from Italy via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the website https://apolloinvestfx.com and on its page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com are not 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, paragraph 1, 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 must 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 https://apolloinvestfx.com website and its page https://cfd.apolloinvestfx.com, consisting in the offering 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.

12 March 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona