Resolution no. 22109

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 performed through the website www.fxgiants.com and the relevant page https://hub.fxgiants.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 24th 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.fxgiants.com website, which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies and commodities, futures on indices and shares;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the www.fxgiants.com website – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, on the separate https://hub.fxgiants.com domain, which can be reached directly from the www.fxgiants.com site’s homepage – open a trading account and deposit the relevant funds;

iii. in particular, the www.fxgiants.com website mentions seven types of accounts, referred to as "Live Floating Spread", "Live Fixed Spread", "Live 0", "Fixed Spread", "STP/ECN Absolute Zero", "STP/ECN 0 Spread"and"STP/ECN No Commission", which vary according to the benefits offered;

iv. as regards ownership, at the bottom of the pages of the www.fxgiants.com website, it states that "This website is owned and operated by Notesco Limited"; furthermore, the "Terms of Business" document available on the www.fxgiants.com site indicates that "Notesco Limited (operating under the trade name of "FXGiants") is a company incorporated under the laws of Bermuda, with registration number 51491";

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 21037 of 3 September 2019, which ordered Notesco Limited, with its stated address in Bermuda, to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.neural4x.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.fxgiants.com website and the relevant https://hub.fxgiants.com webpage 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 issue purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.fxgiants.com website and the relevant https://hub.fxgiants.com page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforementioned domains are also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Notesco Limited, with its stated address in Bermuda, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register kept 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 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 conducted through the www.fxgiants.com website and the relevant https://hub.fxgiants.com webpage, 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 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.

9 December 2021

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona