Resolution no. 20727

Order, pursuant to art. 7-octies, par. 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 through the www.capitalswissfx.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.capitalswissfx.com website, it emerged that:

i. the www.capitalswissfx.com,website, registered by a user anonymously, is also available in Italian;

ii. the potential investor, after registration to the said website and opening an account via a specific online form, has the opportunity to trade in ‘shares, indexes, on the Forex market, in raw materials and cryptocurrencies with CFDs’;

iii. In order to perform the trading transactions, a investment of money is required, to be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are various types of account available, named, according to the minimum deposit to be made and the promised benefits, ‘micro’, ‘premium’, ‘standard’ and ‘VIP’, all available as both ‘EUR’ and the ‘USD’ accounts.

iv. The company Swiss Capital Group Ltd is indicated, at the bottom of every page, as the entity responsible for the website;

v. the ‘Contact Us’ and ‘Help’ sections of the website, in the trading platform accessible after registration, also refer to a company called Swiss Cap Ltd with registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;

vi. the same ‘Contact Us’ section lists the contact emails for sending requests for support;

HAVING CONSIDERED 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 performed via the www.capitalswissfx.com website are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian;

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the companies mentioned on the website 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 REGARD TO the fact 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, therefore, 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 REGARD TO the fact 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 perform the activity indicated under article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement be discontinued’;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to discontinue the infringement of art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the www.capitalswissfx.com website, consisting of the offer and 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.

December 5, 2018

THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Anna Genovese