Resolution no. 21357

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 carried out through the website www.stsroyal.com

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 www.stsroyal.com, it emerged that:

i. the website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. after registration and opening of an account, the website allows CFDs related to crypto currency to be traded through a dedicated trading platform;

iii. in order to be able to trade, a cash investment is required to be paid into an account opened online; specifically, five types of account types named “Explorer”, “Base”, “Sliver”, “Gold” and “Platinum” are offered;

iv. as for the links to the website in question, the "Contact" page and the bottom of some pages of the website mention the company STS Royal Ltd with stated address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the company Capital Letter GmbH with stated address in Munich;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.stsroyal.com 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 purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS such operations may still be carried out, through the website www.stsroyal.com, and that they are available to Italian investors, since the website is available in Italian;

WHEREAS the companies STS Royal Ltd, with stated address in Saint Vincent and Grenadines, and Capital Letter GmbH, with stated address in Munich, mentioned within the website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since they do not appear 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 to licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which, 'The professional provision of investment services and activities to the public is reserved to 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 the website www.stsroyal.com, 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.

May 6, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona