Resolution no. 22206

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 https://eurocapitals.com and the respective page https://account.eurocapitals.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 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from checks on the website, it emerged that:

i. the website https://eurocapitals.com offers the opportunity of trading CFDs on currencies, indices and commodities;

ii. in order to place orders on the trading platforms hosted on the website, users must register at the website at the URL https://account.eurocapitals.com and open an account and subsequently deposit the necessary funds. In particular, three types of accounts are advertised, referred to as "Standard STP", "Raw ECN" and "Pro ECN", which differ according to the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. the site https://eurocapitals.com contains references to the company Miva Solutions LLC, with registered offices in the United Kingdom, and to the related "Eurocapitals" trademark;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22079 of 11 November 2021, whereby the aforementioned company Miva Solutions LLC was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://delitraders.com;

WHEREAS activity carried out through the website https://eurocapitals.com and the respective page https://account.eurocapitals.com are deemed to constitute 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 and consequently carrying out buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described operation, carried out through the website https://eurocapitals.com and respective page https://account.eurocapitals.com, is still in ongoing and is aimed to Italian investors, insofar as the website and the page in question were found to be available in Italian language by using the "Google Translate" function; moreover, a complaint was filed by an Italian investor regarding the website;

WHEREAS the abovementioned domains are cannot be attributed to any party authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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 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 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 website https://eurocapitals.com and the relevant page https://account.eurocapitals.com, constituting the 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.

10 February 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona