Resolution no. 23568 of 21 May 2025

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://lemintero.co 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:

1. potential investors are offered the opportunity via the https://lemintero.co website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian through an automatic translation system incorporated into the website – to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, cryptocurrencies and shares;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://lemintero.co website, open an account and deposit relevant funds;
3. in particular, four types of account are listed on the https://lemintero.co website, referred to as “Bronzo (Bronze)”, “Argento (Silver)”, “Oro (Gold)” and “Platino (Platinum)”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
4. as to traceability, the https://lemintero.co website contains generic references to “Lemintero”, with alleged registered office in London, and an email address (support@lemintero-mail.com) is provided;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 23368 of 18 December 2024, whereby the order was given to “Lemintero” to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.lemintero.com website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the www.lemintero.com website, the https://lemintero.co website replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.lemintero.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://lemintero.co 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 the aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://lemintero.co website, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://lemintero.co website is available in Italian through an automatic translation system incorporated into the same website; there have been reports of interaction between https://lemintero.co website operators and Italian customers; a copy of conversations held in Italian through an instant messaging application between operators of the https://lemintero.co website and an Italian investor has been acquired; there have been complaints of financial losses suffered as a result of investment transactions carried out through the same https://lemintero.co website by an Italian investor;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the https://lemintero.co 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://lemintero.co 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.

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona