Resolution no. 21614

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.beforexcapital.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 www.beforexcapital.com website, it emerged that:

i. the website is active and available in Italian;

ii. the website offers users the opportunity of trading Forex and CFDs, with underlying gold, indices and US shares, through the Metatrader 4 platform;

iii. in order to be able to trade through the www.beforexcapital.com website, registration and opening of an account, to deposit the necessary funds in, are required. In particular, four types of account are offered, named "Little Account", "Silver Account", "Gold Account"and "Commercial Account";

iv. the company The Capital Holding Funds is indicated at the bottom of the web pages, without any indication of its registered address; on the page entitled "Contact us"the company The Capital Holding LLC with its registered address at Saint Vincent and The Grenadines is indicated, and in the "Terms and Conditions"section of the site it states "this website is owned and operated by FX Publications, INC".

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.beforexcapital.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 aforementioned transactions, executed through the www.beforexcapital.com website, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calls being made to the Italian investing public;

WHEREAS the companies mentioned on the website are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they 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 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 Italian Investment 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 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 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 carried out through the www.beforexcapital.com website, consisting in 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.

3 December 2020

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona