Resolution no. 20478

Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, para. 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 performed via the www.exxonfx.com and www.exxonfxgold.com websites

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.exxonfx.com and www.exxonfxgold.com websites, it emerged that:

i. the www.exxonfx.com and www.exxonfxgold.com websites, registered by parties whose identity is not known, are also available in Italian and have the same content as well as the same graphic format;

ii. the potential investors, after the registration with the websites and opening an account using the online form available, have the opportunity to trade on the currency market (FOREX) and in CFDs with different underlying assets, indexes, shares and raw materials through the MT4 platform;

iii. in order to carry out the trading transactions, an investment of money is required, through the payment of sums into the account opened online. In particular, the sites offer three types of account, namely ‘Bronze Account’, ‘Silver Account’ and ‘Gold Account’, which differ above all in terms of the minimum deposit amount and the benefits;

iv. according to that displayed at the bottom of the homepage of the websites, these same websites are allegedly attributable to Revolution Markets LP, with registered address in Glasgow, while the “Credit Card transactions are processed by Fin Group Ltd” . The same information relating to Revolution Markets LP can also be found in the ‘Terms & Conditions’, where it is stated that “These Terms of use hereby govern the relationship between you the Client and us - Revolution Markets LP.”

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activities performed via the aforementioned websites 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 they can issue purchase and/or sales orders of financial instruments;

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations performed via the www.exxonfx.com and www.exxonfxgold.com websites are directed to Italian investors, insofar as the websites are also available in Italian and have 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 “exxonfx and exxonfxgold” have contacted Italian investors by telephone in order to persuade them to open an account and trade on these websites;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that Revolution Markets LP and Fin Group Ltd are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as these companies are not registered on the dedicated 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 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 performs 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 fact that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated under article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement be discontinued”;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to cease the infringement of art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 perpetrated in part via the www.exxonfx.com and www.exxonfxgold.com websites, consisting of the provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of those concerned and published in CONSOB’s Bulletin.

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

12 June 2018

THE CHAIRMAN
Mario Nava