Resolution no. 20564

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.unitrader.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 the checks on the www.unitrader.com website, it emerged that:

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

ii. potential investors, subject to registration and opening an account using the online form available, have the opportunity of trading on the currency market (FOREX) and in CFDs on various assets, including indexes, raw materials and goods 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;

iv. the email address info@unitrader.com, attributed to Boston UniSoft Technologies, is shown at the bottom of the Homepage, with no indication of the registered address;

v. in the ‘Get your Brokerage Business’ section, it is possible to download the document ‘Introducing Broker Agreement’, in which Boston Merchant Financial Ltd is mentioned;

vi. Following registration on the website, users can login to their own area, where they can download various documents, including the ‘Client Agreement’ in which ‘BMFN Limited’, with registered address in Vanuatu, is mentioned.

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the activity carried out via the www.unitrader.com 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 performed via the www.unitrader.com website are directed towards 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 ESTABLISHED that Boston Merchant Ltd and BMFN Limited 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 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 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:

To order the discontinuation of the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 also performed via the www.unitrader.com website, 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.

August 29, 2018

THE CHAIRMAN
Mario Nava