Resolution no. 20347

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b), of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 (Consolidated Law on Finance) to discontinue the infringement of Article. 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed via the www.becfd.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 June 7, 1974, and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of February 24, 1998, and subsequent amendments and additions (Consolidated Law on Finance);

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the www.becfd.com website, it emerged that:

1. the www.becfd.com website is in Italian and shows an Italian telephone number ("+0634802953"), specifically dedicated to the Italian public;
2. the potential investor, after registering on the said website and opening an account using a specific form available online, can operate on the FOREX market and trade in CFDs, indexes, currencies and commodities via MT4 platform and through the alleged “Mobile Trading Platform” for mobile devices;
3. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, that has to be paid into the account opened online;
4. the "Terms and Conditions" section mentions the "BECFD Limited" company with registered office in the Marshall Islands;
5. the www.becfd.com website and the services offered therein are therefore attributed to the "BECFD Limited" company.

HAVING ESTABLISHED in this regard that BECFD Ltd also uses forms of contact and interaction, including immediate ones, with Italian clients through the said website, providing procedural and operational instructions for investing in financial instruments ;

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, according to the information available, people operating in the name of "BECFD" have telephoned Italian investors in order to convince them to open an account and carry out trading transactions on the said website;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations carried out also via the www.becfd.com website are directed to the Italian public, because there is an Italian version of the said website and there are no blocking mechanisms in place to prevent Italian users from registering; in fact, the reserved area is available in Italian to registered investors.

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out also via the said website can be classed as the provision of investment services referred to Art. 1, para. 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity to open a trading account against purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities as referred to Art. 18, para. 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which “The professional provision of investment services and activities for the public is reserved for investment firms and banks”;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that BECFD Limited, with registered office in the Marshall Islands, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public since it is not included in the appropriate register held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the operations in question are configured as the professional provision of investment services involving financial instruments to the Italian public in infringement of Art. 18, para. 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED that, pursuant to Art. 7-octies of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract abuse” - CONSOB “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified therefor pursuant to this decree: a) make public, even by way of a precaution, the circumstance that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated by article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement cease”;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 implemented also via the www.becfd.com, website consisting of the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be notified to those concerned and published in CONSOB’s Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed with the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days from the date of notification.

21 March 2018

THE ACTING CHAIRMAN
Giuseppe Maria Berruti