Resolution no. 21982

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 websitehttps://neoomatic.co and the pages https://webtrader.neoomatic.co and https://client.neoomatic.cc

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 website https://neoomatic.co to trade on the forex market and and CFDs with underlying indices, shares and raw materials;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, users must register with the website https://neoomatic.co – through a procedure that is also available to users connected from Italy from the page https://webtrader.neoomatic.co – the opening of a trading account and the use of funds;

iii. after registering, users may access the reserved area of the site, which is also available in Italian on the address https://client.neoomatic.cc, where there are several features, including a specific function for depositing and withdrawing funds on the trading account;

iv. three types of accounts are mentioned on the website https://neoomatic.co referred to as "Beginner", "Pro" and "Pro+", depending on the minimum deposit requested and the benefits proposed;

v. at the bottom of the web pages of the website https://neoomatic.co the following statement is displayed: "This website is owned and operated by the company Mellifluous Group Ltd" allegedly with registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

vi. the "Contacts" section of the website https://neoomatic.co contains a form for requesting information and an e-mail address (support@neoomatic.co);

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://neoomatic.co website and the relevant pageshttps://webtrader.neoomatic.co and https://client.neoomatic.cc constitutes the provision of investment services, within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the above domains offer users the possibility of opening a trading account on which to place buy and/or sales orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website https://neoomatic.co and the pages https://webtrader.neoomatic.co and https://client.neoomatic.cc, is still ongoing and is addressed to the public of Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling to Italian investors, and the reserved area of the website https://neoomatic.co, available on the address https://client.neoomatic.cc, may also be accessed in Italian.

WHEREAS the website https://neoomatic.co and the relevant pages https://webtrader.neoomatic.co and https://client.neoomatic.cc cannot be attributed to any

entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, given that the company called Mellifluous Group LTD, mentioned on the website https://neoomatic.co allegedly having registered offices in the Commonwealth of Dominica does not appear to be registered with 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 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 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 cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://neoomatic.co and relevant pages https://webtrader.neoomatic.co and https://client.neoomatic.cc, which constitute the offering 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.

29 July 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona