Resolution no. 20927

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 through the https://goldfxtrading.com and https://web.goldfxtrading.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 7 June 1974, and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING REGARD TO Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (‘Consolidated Law on Finance’) and subsequent amendments and additions;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that checks on the https://goldfxtrading.com website showed that:

i. the https://goldfxtrading.com redirects to the https://web.goldfxtrading.com website;

ii. the https://web.goldfxtrading.com website, although not available in Italian, displays an Italian telephone number (+39 0550107790);

iii. the https://web.goldfxtrading.com website,registered anonymously, offers users, subject to opening an account and paying into it the relative sum of money, the opportunity of trading in Forex, shares and CFDs having indexes and commodities as their underlying assets;

iv. in order to carry out trading transactions, an investment of money is required, to be paid into the account opened online;

v. the https://web.goldfxtrading.com website states that ‘GoldFxTrading [is] owned and operated by GFT’ with alleged offices in London and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines;

vi. the ‘Contact Us’ section of the website displays the following email address: ‘info@goldfxtrading.com’.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the activity at issue - still performed thorough the aforementioned websites - qualifies 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 above described operations are also aimed at the Italian investing public, insofar as: ( a) the potential investors resident in Italy are reached by cold calling from persons related to these websites ; (b) potential investors receive contractual and information document in Italian sent from ‘compliance30@goldfxtrading’; (c) the https://web.goldfxtrading.com website displays a telephone number specific for Italian users.

HAVING CONSIDERED that the website cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as GoldFxTrading (GFT) is not registered on the 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 Art. 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 qualify 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 circumstance that the party is not authorised to carry out the activity indicated by article 1, paragraph 5; b) order that the infringement cease’;

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary in the light of the foregoing to immediately and urgently adopt this Resolution;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

The order is issued to cease the infringement of Art .18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 performed via the https://goldfxtrading.com and https://web.goldfxtrading.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 whom it concerns and will be published in the CONSOB Bulletin.

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

May 8, 2019

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona