Resolution no. 21844

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.invest-moment.com and the relevant page https://client.invest-moment.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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.invest-moment.com website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs relating to currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

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

iii. in particular, three types of account are mentioned on the www.invest-moment.com website, known as "Classic", "PRO" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as for traceability, at the bottom of the www.invest-moment.com website pages it states that "invest-moment.com is operated by Momentum Investment Group Ent Ltd", with its registered address in London;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.invest-moment.com website and the relevant https://client.invest-moment.compage constitutes 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 transactions, carried out through the www.invest-moment.com website and relevant https://client.invest-moment.com page, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors since the aforesaid domains are also available in Italian and there have also been reports about them, of cold calls made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS Momentum Investment Group Ent Ltd, with its registered address in London, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public insofar as it does not appear on the register kept 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.invest-moment.com website and relevant https://client.invest-moment.com page, constituting the offer and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

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

12 May 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona