Resolution no. 21503

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.kaftrade.com and related registration page https://client.kaftrade.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.kaftrade.com, it emerged that:

i. the website is active and available in Italian;

ii. the website offers the opportunity of trading Forex and CFDs with underlying shares, cryptocurrencies and commodities, through the Metatrader 4 trading platform;

iii. in order to be able to trade, registration with the site, access to the reserved area available through the https://client.kaftrade.com URL and opening of an account to deposit the necessary funds in, are required. In particular, there are five types of account known as “Classic”, “Gold”, “Prime”, “ECN Gold” and “ECN Vip”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. the link to the contractual terms and conditions on the website www.kaftrade.com is not active;

v. the company “Kaf Trade LTD“, with its registered office in the United Kingdom, is indicated at the bottom of the website pages as the parent company of “K-Trade LTD“ with its stated registered office in St. Vincent and the Grenadines;

vi. a contact telephone number is shown at the bottom of the home page with an Italian country code that is specifically dedicated to Italian users;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.kaftrade.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 the aforementioned transactions, carried out through the website www.kaftrade.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors since the website is available in Italian;

WHEREAS the parties mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as the companies Kaf Trade Ltd and K-Trade Ltd do 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 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 carried out through the website www.kaftrade.com and related https://client.kaftrade.com registration page, 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.

September 17, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona