Resolution no. 22268

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://mtp.expert and the respective page https://my.mtp.expert

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 website https://mtp.expert is active and available in Italian and offers potential investors the opportunity to trade currency contracts (forex), commodities and CFDs, through a trading platform;

ii. in order to place trades, users must register with the website, by filling in the form found at the address https://my.mtp.expert, and subsequently open a trading account and deposit funds in it. Specifically, three types of account are advertised ("Micro", "Standard" e "VIP") which vary, among other things, according to the required deposit;

iii. as for the traceability of the website https://mtp.expert, the website footer states that "the website is owned by Lakeshore Services OU, a company incorporated in Estonia";

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://mtp.expert and the relevant page https://my.mtp.expertis deemed to constitute 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 place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://mtp.expert and the respective page https://my.mtp.expert, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the website https://mtp.expert cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved to authorised 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 unauthorised activity"- 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 such infringement must 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. 58/98 carried out through the website https://mtp.expert and the respective page https://my.mtp.expert, 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.

16 March 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona