Resolution no. 22159

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 via the https://investarea.com website and respective https://accounts.investarea.com webpage

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. the https://investarea.com website, which is active and available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies;

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

iii. in particular, four types of account are listed on the https://investarea.com website, referred to as "Micro", "Standard", "Premium" and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, there are references at the bottom of the https://investarea.com website pages to Invest Area Ltd, with offices in London and Manchester. Furthermore, in the "Contact Us" section of the https://investarea.com website a telephone number is indicated, with an Italian country code, that is attributable to "Investarea";

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://investarea.com website and the relevant https://accounts.investarea.comwebpage 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 above described activity, carried out through the https://investarea.com website and relevant https://accounts.investarea.com webpage, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the https://investarea.com website, through which the user has direct access to the https://accounts.investarea.com page, is available in Italian and provides a telephone number with an Italian country code for "Invest Area" in the "Contact Us" section of the aforementioned https://investarea.com website;

WHEREAS Invest Area Ltd, mentioned on the https://investarea.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it is not listed 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 https://investarea.com website and its https://accounts.investarea.com page, 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.

12 January 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona