RESOLUTION no. 21446 of 15/07/2020

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 https://globalspotfx.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 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 https://globalspotfx.com website, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website, which is also available in Italian, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade CFDs relating to currencies;

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

iii. in particular, the https://globalspotfx.com website offers four types of account, known as "Micro", "Standard", "Premium" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. in some sections of the https://globalspotfx.com site - in particular, in the "F.A.Q." and in the section entitled "Privacy Policy" - there are references to a separate website called https://cryptofxonline.com;

v. as far as attributability is concerned, the company Trade Com Limited, with an alleged address in London, is indicated at the foot of the https://globalspotfx.com website pages;

HAVING REGARD TO resolutions no. 20522 of 10 July 2018 and no. 21255 of 2 February 2020, whereby the company Trade Com Limited was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate and distinct https://cryptofxonline.com and https://fxonspot.com websites, respectively;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned https://fxonspot.com website, the https://globalspotfx.com website replicates the content and graphic format of the said https://fxonspot.com site;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://globalspotfx.com website 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 the above transactions, carried out through the https://globalspotfx.com website, are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, since the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Trade Com Limited, which is mentioned on the https://globalspotfx.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on 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 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 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 article 18, paragraph 1 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that, according to the provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abusive practices" - CONSOB "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement";

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 https://globalspotfx.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.

July 15, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona