Resolution no. 20379

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.touchtrades.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 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and additions;

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

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

ii. the potential investor, after the registration on said website and the opening of an account via a specific form available online, has the opportunity to trade in stocks, commodities and indexes and on the currency market (FOREX) through the MT4 platform;

iii. 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 various types of account, namely "Micro", "Standard" and "VIP", distinguished above all by the minimum deposit required and by the benefits;

iv. the TouchTrades Limited company, with alleged registered office in London, is mentioned at the bottom of every page of the said website;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activities carried out via this 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 sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.touchtrades.com website are directed to Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian and is has no mechanism in place to prevent the registration of Italian users;

HAVING ALSO ESTABLISHED that, according to the information available, people operating in the name of "TouchTrades" have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to persuade them to open an account and trade on this website;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the TouchTrades Limited company, with alleged registered office in London, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not registered on the register held by CONSOB pursuant to Art. 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for authorised subjects 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, therefore, that the operation in question can be classed 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, according 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 therefore 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 cease the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.touchtrades.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.

Appeals against this measure may be presented to the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days from the date of notification.

 13 April 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese