Resolution no. 21282

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 through the website https://virtualstocks.io

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 supplements;

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

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website https://virtualstocks.io, it emerged that:

i. through this site, potential investors are offered the opportunity to trade Forex and also shares, indices and commodities, after having opened an account using the registration procedure;

ii. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment is required to be paid into an account opened online;

iii. only references to the 'VirtualStocks' brand are found on the site in question;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21204 of 18 September 2019, which ordered “Virtualstocks” to cease the infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the different domains https://virtualstocks.co and https://virtualstocks.cc;

WHEREAS the website https://virtualstocks.io has the same graphic design, and its content is substantially identical to that of the different website https://virtualstocks.co;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through https://virtualstocks.io can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in Article 1, paragraph 5 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account against which orders for purchase and/or sale of financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS the WHEREAS the transactions described above, performed through https://virtualstocks.io, are still ongoing, and aimed at Italian investors since the registration page and private area of the website are also available in Italian, and there have also been reports of unsolicited telephone calls to the Italian public (so-called 'cold calling');

WHEREAS the company mentioned on the above domains is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear to be listed in the register kept by Consob pursuant to article 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, paragraph 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 to the Italian public, in infringement of art. 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of art. 7-octies, letter b) 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 pursuant to this decree:[…] b) order that the infringement cease';

CONSIDERING it therefore necessary, in the light of the foregoing, to adopt this resolution immediately for reasons of urgency;

RESOLVES:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through https://virtualstocks.io, consisting in offering and providing 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.

February 26, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona