Resolution no. 22208

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 https://inertiafinance.co website

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 https://inertiafinance.co website – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, indices and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://inertiafinance.co website – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – open a trading accountand deposit the necessary funds;

iii. in particular, the https://inertiafinance.co website mentions five types of account known as "Mini", "Standard", "Classic", "VIP" and "Professional" depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as regards ownership, at the bottom of the pages of the https://inertiafinance.co website it states: "This website is owned and operated by Tryst Consulting LLC", with its registered office in Saint Vincent and Grenadines. Moreover, the "Customer Services" section of the said https://inertiafinance.co website includes an emailaddress specifically for Italian users (compliance.it@inertiafinance.co);

WHEREAS the activity carried out through thehttps://inertiafinance.co websiteconstitutes the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through said domain to open a tradingaccount and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described activity, carried out through the https://inertiafinance.co website, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforesaid domain is also available in Italian. Moreover, there have been reports of cold calling of retail investors in Italy with respect to the https://inertiafinance.co website, and the "Customer Services" section of the site provides an email address specifically for Italian users;

WHEREAS Tryst Consulting LLC, with its registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does 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 performed through the website https://inertiafinance.co, 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.

10 February 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona