Resolution no. 21910

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 https://hcmgroupfx.com and the relevant page https://my.tradingroomstar.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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website https://hcmgroupfx.com, after opening an account via the registration process, which is also available to Italian users, to trade in financial instruments;

ii. in order to be able to trade as mentioned above, the user is invited to register with the website, through the page https://my.tradingroomstar.com to then open an account by making a deposit;

iii. it is possible to download the trading platform on a mobile phone or tablet. "Robot" trading is also indicated;

iv. the pages of the website state the company "HCM Group" with registered office in the United Kingdom;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through this website can be classed as the provision of investment services as per art. 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 aforementioned transactions, carried out through the https://hcmgroupfx.com website and its page https://my.tradingroomstar.com, are still ongoing and are aimed at Italian investors since the website is written in Italian and some telephone numbers have been identified, for contact with customers, with an Italian prefix;

WHEREAS the company named "HCM Group" mentioned on the website is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 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 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 unauthorised activity" - 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 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. 58/1998 carried out through the website https://hcmgroupfx.com and the relevant page https://my.tradingroomstar.com, constituted by the 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.

17 June 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona