Resolution no. 22195

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 https://neotrade.pro, https://neotrade.cc websites and the https://neotrade.io login page

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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

i. by selecting any link on the https://neotrade.cc website, a user gains access to the https://neotrade.pro site – which is active and also available in Italian – through which potential investors are offered the opportunity to trade CFDs with underlying currencies, indices, commodities and precious metals via a platform known as CTrader;

ii. the separate https://neotrade.io domain appears to be the page assigned to the registration of new users, as well as being the access page for users already registered with the aforementioned https://neotrade.pro website;

iii. to be able to trade online through these sites, users are required to register, open one of the accountsadvertised, as well as pay in relevant funds;

iv. in particular, four types of account are available, known as"Starter", "Standard", "Trader"and "VIP", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

v. as for traceability, the footers of both the https://neotrade.pro and the https://neotrade.cc websites indicate the company Donnybrook Consulting Ltd with its alleged registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21680 of 14 January 2021, no. 21761 of 11 March 2021, no. 21783 of 31 March 2021, no. 21842 of 12 May 2021, no. 21946 of 7 July 2021 and no. 22038 of 13 October 2021, whereby Donnybrook Consulting Ltd, with its alleged registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate domains https://energymarkets.io, https://energy-markets.cc and the relevant webtrader.energy-markets.cc webpage; https://eurofx.trade, https://bid-broker-stocks.io and https://bid-brokerstocks.cc, www.optimarket.co and the relevant https://optimarket.trade webpage, www.optimarket.cc, as well as https://absystem.pro and https://onyxprofit.pro;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://neotrade.pro and https://neotrade.cc domains and the https://neotrade.io webpage, 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 clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account against which orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments can be issued;

WHEREAS the above transactions, carried out through the https://neotrade.pro and https://neotrade.cc domains and the https://neotrade.io webpage , are still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, since the domains mentioned above are also available in Italian;

WHEREAS Donnybrook Consulting Ltd, with its alleged registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as it does not appear on 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 in order to provide investment services, 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 unauthorised provision of investment sevices" - Consob "may, with regard to anyone who offers or carries out investment services or activities through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that the infringement cease";

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. 58/1998 carried out through the https://neotrade.pro and https://neotrade.cc domains and the https://neotrade.io 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.

2 February 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona