Resolution no. 22156

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.wirexinvest24.com and the relevant page https://webtrade.wirexinvest24.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 7th 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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.wirexinvest24.com website to trade currency contracts, indices and shares via a trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, the user is invited to register with the aforesaid site through a process that is also available for Italian users, access their personal area available at https://webtrade.wirexinvest24.com, then open an account and deposit sums of money in it; specifically, five types of account are advertised on the site ("Mini", "Standard", "Gold", "Platinum" and "VIP++") which differ, among other things, according to the required deposit;

iii. as to the traceability of the www.wirexinvest24.com site, the website pages specify that "Wirexinvest is a brand name of Wirexinvest Invest Limited", a company with its registered address in the Marshall Islands; the "terms and conditions" mention "Wirex UAB" with its registered address in Lithuania;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21984 of 29 July 2021, which ordered the said "Wirexinvest Invest Limited" and "Wirex UAB" to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.wirexinvest.com website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially superimposable on the domain of the aforementioned www.wirexinvest.com site, the www.wirexinvest24.com site replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.wirexinvest.com site;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.wirexinvest24.com and https://webtrade.wirexinvest24.com domains can be classed as 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 opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.wirexinvest24.com and https://webtrade.wirexinvest24.com domains, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the companies mentioned on the www.wirexinvest24.com website are not authorised to engage in the provision of investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they do not appear on 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 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.wirexinvest24.com website and relevant https://webtrade.wirexinvest24.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 January 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona