Resolution no. 20510

Order, pursuant to Article 7-octies, paragraph 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.markettm.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.markettm.com website, it emerged that:

i. the www.markettm.com website, registered by a user whose identity is not known, is also available in Italian and its ‘Contact’ section displays telephone number specifically dedicated to Italian investors (+3930308029230);

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

iii. in order to carry out the trading transactions, investment of money is required, to be deposited into the account opened online. In particular, the said website offers various types of account, namely ‘Silver’, ‘Gold’ and ‘VIP’, distinguished above all by the minimum deposit required and by the benefits.

iv. at the footer of every page of the said website it is stated that ‘The card transactions are processed through FT Global Services Ltd ... to wholly owned subsidiary of FT Global Ltd’;

v. the ‘Terms and Conditions’ section mentions the MarketTM Ltd company, with alleged offices in London;

vi. the section dedicated to registered users includes a page called ‘Help’ in which the Lordos Enterprise Ltd company, with alleged offices in the Marshall Islands, in mentioned; this latter company has also been found to be the Registrant of the website in question.

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

HAVING CONSIDERED that the aforementioned operations, carried out via the www.markettm.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; moreover, the said website displays a telephone number specific for Italian users;

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

Considered that the MarketTM Ltd, FT Global Services Ltd, FT Global Ltd and Lordos Enterprise Ltd companies are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, because they are not included in the register kept 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 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 cease the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.markettm.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 June 2018

On behalf of THE CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese