Resolution no. 21769

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 http://marketseco.com

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

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 audits conducted on the website http://marketseco.com ascertained that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website http://marketseco.com - which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian - to carry out forex transactions and trade CFDs on commodities, shares, bonds, indices and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to carry out the above transactions, the user must register with the website http://marketseco.com via a process that is also available for Italian users, and subsequently open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website http://marketseco.com, known as "Micro Account", "Standard"’, "Premium" and "Vip", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. the website http://marketseco.com makes references to Evolution Markets LTD with alleged registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website http://marketseco.com constitutes 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 and placing buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described activity, carried out by Evolution Markets LTD through the website http://marketseco.com, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, since the site is available in Italian and regarding the same website there have been reports of cold calling of Italian savers;

WHEREAS Evolution Markets LTD, with its alleged registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as mentioned on the website http://marketseco.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed on the dedicated register maintained by Consob pursuant to Article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence in order to provide investment services, as per 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;

R E S O L V E S:

To order the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 carried out through the website http://marketseco.com, which constitutes the provision of 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.

18 March 2021

IL PRESIDENTE
Paolo Savona