Resolution no. 21513

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 https://bstox24.com and its page https://client.bstox24.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, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website https://bstox24.com, which is also available in Italian, to trade CFDs relating to currencies;

ii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user must register with the website https://bstox24.com through the registration procedure which is also available for Italian users, access their personal area through the page https://client.bstox24.com, open a trading account and employ sums of money there;

iii. in particular, the website https://bstox24.com offers four types of account, known as “Basic", “Silver", “Gold" and “VIP”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as for traceability, in the website https://bstox24.com there are generic references to the brand “bstox24”, without any indication of its registered address;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://bstox24.com and its page https://client.bstox24.com can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in art. 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 operations performed via the https://bstox24.com and https://client.bstox24.com domains are still ongoing and are directed towards Italian investors, insofar as the website https://bstox24.com is also available in Italian and, through its page https://client.bstox24.com, users can access their personal area, also available in Italian. Moreover, for the website https://bstox24.com, there have also been reports of cold calling of members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS the https://bstox24.com and https://client.bstox24.com domains are not linked to any company authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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. 58/98 carried out through the website https://bstox24.com and its page https://client.bstox24.com, consisting of the offering and provision of 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.

22 September 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona