Resolution no. 21810

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.italianoinvest.net and the relevant page http://secure.italianoinvest.net

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 audits conducted on the website www.italianoinvest.net ascertained that:

i. the website www.italianoinvest.net - which is active and also available in Italian -

offers users the opportunity trade CFDs on indices, commodities and currencies;

ii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, users are required to register with the website www.italianoinvest.net, through a process that is also available for Italian users, then access the personal area at http://secure.italianoinvest.net and open an account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. as for traceability, at the bottom of the www.italianoinvest.net site’s web pages there is a generic reference to "Italiano Invest" without any indication of its registered office address;

iv. the "Contacts" section contains a form for requesting information and an e-mail address (info@italianoinvest.net);

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21736 of 25 February 2021, whereby "Italiano Invest" was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.italianoinvest.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.italianoinvest.net and the relevant page http://secure.italianoinvest.net can be classed as the provision of investment services as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, as users are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account with which it is possible to place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.italianoinvest.net and the relevant page http://secure.italianoinvest.net, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the site is available in Italian, and that moreover there have been reports of cold calling of retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the website www.italianoinvest.net is attributable to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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 provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract unauthorised activity"- pursuant to which 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.italianoinvest.net website and its http://secure.italianoinvest.net 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.

22 April 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona