Resolution no. 21774

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 www.swisspremiumfx.com website and its page https://my.swisspremiumfx.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 web, it emerged that:

i. the website www.swisspremiumfx.com, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to place such transactions, users must register with the website www.swisspremiumfx.com – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, beginning from the page https://my.swisspremiumfx.com which is accessible from the homepage of the site www.swisspremiumfx.com – and open a trading account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website www.swisspremiumfx.com, known as"Micro", "Premium", "Vip" and "Zero Fixed", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. the "Terms and Conditions" section of the website www.swisspremiumfx.com makes reference to the company KBS Capital Markets Ltd, with stated registered address in the Marshall Islands;

HAVING REGARD to Resolutions no. 21479 of 2 September 2020, no. 21504 of 19 September 2020 and no. 21762 of 11 March 2021, whereby KBS Capital Markets Ltd, registered in the Marshall Islands, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate and distinct websites www.topcapitalfx.com and the relevant page www.my.topcapitalfx.com, as well as the website www.imctrades.com and through the domain https://royaltradefx.com and the relevant page https://my.royaltradefx.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.swisspremiumfx.com and the relevant page https://my.swisspremiumfx.comconstitutes the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place buy and/or sale orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above-described activity, carried out through the website www.swisspremiumfx.com and the relevant page https://my.swisspremiumfx.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors: the website www.swisspremiumfx.com is also available in Italian and there have been reports of cold calls to members of the public in Italy; the page https://my.swisspremiumfx.com is accessible via a direct link from the homepage of the website www.swisspremiumfx.com;

WHEREAS KBS Capital Markets Ltd, with registered address in the Marshall Islands, mentioned on the website www.swisspremiumfx.com and the relevant page https://my.swisspremiumfx.com, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed on the relevant register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities 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 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 article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract abusive practices" - CONSOB "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities over the Internet without being qualified to do so pursuant to this decree: […] b) order the cessation of the infringement";

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.swisspremiumfx.com website and its https://my.swisspremiumfx.com page, 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.

25 March 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona