Resolution no. 21721

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.directafxs.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 www.directafxs.com website, to trade in commodity-related CFDs, shares and indices using various dedicated trading platforms;

ii. in order to trade, registration with the site is required via an online procedure, and one of the accounts advertised there opened; more specifically, four types of accounts are available, known as "Basic", "Standard", "Silver" and "Gold", depending on the minimum deposit and benefits promised;

iii. as far as the website’s traceability is concerned, the "Terms & Conditions" section lists both the companies "DirectaFx Ltd Group and DirectaFx Ltd", without indicating any registered office address;

iv. two e-mail addresses appear on the same page: support@directafx.com and info@directafx.com;

HAVING regard to Resolution no. 21470 of 29 July 2020, which ordered DirectaFx Ltd Group and DirectaFx Ltd, allegedly based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the separate www.directafx.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.directafxs.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 activity, carried out through the www.directafxs.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling members of the public in Italy;

WHEREAS the companies named DirectaFx Ltd Group and DirectaFx Ltd mentioned on the www.directafxs.com website, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not listed in 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 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 www.directafxs.com website, 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.

February 10, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona