Resolution no. 22027

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.sealtd.io website and the relative https://trading.sealtd.io and https://secure.sealtd.io webpages

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 www.sealtd.io website, which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies and shares;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the www.sealtd.io website via a procedure that is also available to Italian users; open a trading account; deposit the relevant funds via the procedure available at the https://secure.sealtd.io domain; access the trading platform available at the https://trading.sealtd.io web address;

iii. as far as traceability is concerned, in the "Terms and Conditions" document it states that the contractual counterparty of a user registering with the www.sealtd.io site is Sealtd Ltd, with its registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

iv. the "Contacts" section of the www.sealtd.io website provides a contact telephone number, with an Italian area code, specifically for Italian clients;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.sealtd.io website and the relevant https://trading.sealtd.io and https://secure.sealtd.io pages 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.sealtd.io website and the relevant https://trading.sealtd.io and https://secure.sealtd.io webpages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors: in fact, the www.sealtd.io website and relevant https://trading.sealtd.io and https://secure.sealtd.io webpages are available in Italian; regarding the www.sealtd.io website, there have also been reports of cold calls made to the Italian public and moreover, in the "Contact us" section of the www.sealtd.io website a telephone number with an Italian country code specifically for Italian clients was also found;

WHEREAS Sealtd Ltd, with its registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed in the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant authorisation 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 the cessation of the infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the www.sealtd.io website and relevant https://trading.sealtd.io and https://secure.sealtd.io pages, 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.

6 October 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona