Resolution no. 21695

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 https://dmadirectab.com website and its https://client.dmadirectab.com page

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. the https://dmadirectab.com website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the https://dmadirectab.com website, subject to prior opening of an account via the registration process which is also available to Italian users, to trade financial instruments such as CFDs on currencies, indices and shares;

iii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user is invited to register with the https://dmadirectab.com website, access their personal area at https://client.dmdirectab.com, open an account and spend sums of money

iv. in particular, various types of account are offered on the website, known as 'Classic', 'Gold', 'Prime', 'ECN Gold' and 'ECN VIP';

v. as for the https://dmadirectab.com website's traceability, reference is made on the domain to "DMA Direct AB” with its alleged registered office in Stockholm, which states it is supervised and regulated by the Swedish Supervisory Authority, as well as by other Supervisory Authorities including Consob;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through this website 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 transactions, carried out through the https://dmadirectab.com website and relevant https://client.dmadirectab.com web page, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors insofar as the website is available in Italian; moreover, there have also been reports by potential customers of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS the company mentioned on the website known as “DMA Direct AB” with its alleged registered office in Stockholm, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, given that it is not listed in the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, or even in the register of investment firms maintained by the Swedish Supervisory Authority;

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. 58/98 carried out through the https://dmadirectab.com website and relative https://client.dmdirectab.com page, 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 of the date of service.

January 27, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona