Resolution no. 20423

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b), of Italian Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ('Consolidated Law on Finance') to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance performed via the www.novatrades.com website

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETA' 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.novatrades.com website, it emerged that:

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

ii. potential investors, after the registration on the said website and opening and account via the dedicated online form, can trade on the foreign currency market (Forex) and in CFDs, commodities and indexes through the MT4 platform;

iii. an investment of money is required to carry out trading transactions, to be paid into the account opened online. In particular, the said website offers various types of account, namely 'Mini', 'Bronze', 'Silver' and 'Gold', distinguished above all by the minimum deposit required and the benefits;

iv. the 'Terms and Conditions' section states that the website in question 'is owned and operated by Novatrades Ltd', with offices in the Marshall Islands;

v. in the 'Terms and Conditions' page it is specified, moreover, that “Novatrades operates in accordance with international financial and money laundering laws. Order execution as per the MiFID 2006/73 / EC Directive'.

HAVING CONSIDERED 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 have the opportunity to open a trading account against which they can issue purchase and/or sales orders of financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.novatrades.com website are directed to Italian investors, insofar as the said website is also available in Italian and has no blocking 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 'Novatrades' have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to persuade them to open an account and trade on the said website;

HAVING CONSIDERED that Novatrades Ltd 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 to authorised entities as referred to under Article 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 the operations 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:

To order the cessation of the infringement of Art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.novatrades.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.

8 May 2018

On behalf of THE CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese