Resolution no. 20752

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.wigmarkets.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.wigmarkets.com website, it emerged that:

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

ii. subject to prior registration to the website and opening an account through the registration procedure, which is available to Italian users, potential investors are offered the possibility of trading via the MT5, as well as via dedicated apps for mobile devices, involving instruments such as: ‘Forex, indexes, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, algo investments, raw materials and metals’.

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, ‘base’, ‘standard’, ‘silver’, ‘gold’ and ‘platinum’;

iv. the ‘Contacts’ section of the website indicates the company Wigmarkets, with headquarters in Northern Ireland, as the entity responsible for the same website;

v. the ‘Terms and Conditions’ section, for the purposes of the determination of the applicable law, refers to the law of the Republic of Vanuatu.

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.wigmarkets.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 CONSIDERED that the company mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as this company is 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.wigmarkets.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 19, 2018

THE ACTING CHAIRMAN
Giuseppe Maria Berruti