Resolution no. 21483

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.cfgtrades.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.cfgtrades.com, it emerged that:

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

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.cfgtrades.com website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade in financial instruments through the “MetaTrader 4” platform;

iii. in order to be able to trade a cash investment is required which must be paid into an account opened online; in particular, there are four types of account available called “Standard”, “Classic”, “Gold” and “Premium”, which differ in their “Minimum initial deposit” and the services offered;

iv. the company Inter Media Ltd, with its alleged registered office in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is indicated in the website pages.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.cfgtrades.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 to use to issue purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned operations, performed through the website www.cfgtrades.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is also available in Italian;

WHEREAS the company named Inter Media Ltd mentioned on the website www.cfgtrades.com , is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register maintained 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 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 Stock brokerage firms, EU investment firms, Italian banks, EU banks and non-EU firms';

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. 58/1998 performed through the website www.cfgtrades.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.

2 September 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona