Resolution no. 20361

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.trade111.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 the checks carried out on the www.trade111.com website on March 5, 2018, it emerged that:

i. the www.trade111.com website, registered in anonymous form by a user whose identity is not known, is also available in Italian;

ii. potential investors, after registering on the said website and opening an account by filling in a specific online form with their personal information, can trade in the FOREX market and CFDs via a dedicated online platform;

iii. after registering, the user receives a standardised e-mail containing the number of the account he/she has opened and the password for accessing it;

iv. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online. In particular, the said website offers different types of account, namely “Micro”, “Standard”, “Silver”, “Gold” and “VIP”, which differ mainly for the amount of the minimum deposit required and the associated benefits;

v. In the "Terms and Conditions" section, written in English, we read that "Trade111.com is operated and owned by Black Parrot Limited [with headquarters in the] Marshall Islands [and that] IT and financial and administration services [are provided] by Blond Bear OU Limited". The latter company is also mentioned in the contacts page, where its address of Tallinn (Estonia) is shown;

vi. the www.trade111.com website and the services offered therein are therefore attributable to the Black Parrot Limited and Blond Bear OU companies.

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, according the information available, subjects operating in the name of "trade111" have contacted Italian investors by phone and by mail;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that Black Parrot Limited and Blond Bear OU use forms of contact and interaction, including immediate ones, with Italian clients through the www.trade111.com website, providing procedural and operational instructions for investing in financial instruments, subject to opening a trading account on which to pay sums of money;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the above described operations, carried out through the www.trade111.com website, are addressed to the Italian investing public, as the said website is available in Italian and has no blocking mechanism in place to prevent Italian users from registering, moreover, it contains a telephone number specifically dedicated to Italian users;

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

HAVING CONSIDERED that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised entities as referred to under 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 Black Parrot Limited and Blond Bear OU are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public since they are not included in the 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 performed via the www.trade111.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.

28 March 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese