Resolution no. 21764

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.investigram.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. through the website www.investigram.com, which is active and registered by an anonymous user, potential investors are offered the opportunity to carry out forex transactions and trade CFDs on indices, shares, cryptocurrencies and commodities via the MetaTrader5 platform;

ii. in order to do so, users must register via an online procedure and open on of the advertised accounts; specifically, six types of accounts are available, varying according to the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised, named “Student”, “Starter”, “Premium”, “Advanced”, “Pro” and “VIP”;

iii. the homepage and the “Terms & Conditions” page make reference to the company Investigram Ltd, with stated offices in St. Vincent and the Grenadines;

iv. the same pages display the e-mail address: services@investigram.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.investigram.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 website www.investigram.com is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of investment solicitation through remote communication techniques with the public in Italy;

WHEREAS Investigram Ltd, mentioned on this website www.investigram.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the dedicated register maintained by Consob pursuant to art. 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 provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - “Powers to counteract unauthorised activity” - by virtue of which Consob “may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or investment services or activities over the Internet, without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: [...] b) order that such infringement must 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.investigram.com website, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties 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.

March 11, 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona