Resolution no.  22285

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 www.fusionfx24.com website and relative https://my.fusionfx24.com web 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 24th February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

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

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the www.fusionfx24.com website to trade CFDs, shares and commodities via a trading platform;

ii. in order to carry out the aforesaid transactions, users must register with the www.fusionfx24.com website - through a procedure that is also available for Italian users - and open one of the trading accounts ("Standard", "Professional", "Business" and "Business Plus") advertised on the site;

iii. after registration, customers may log into the reserved area of the website at https://my.fusionfx24.com, where, inter alia, it is possible to deposit funds on the chosen trading account;

iv. as for the www.fusionfx24.com website's traceability, there are references to "Fusion Fx" in the so-called "Client Agreement" available online;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 22238 of 23 February 2022, whereby "Fusion Fx" was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.fusion-fin.com website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially super imposable on the domain of the aforementioned www.fusion-fin.com website, the www.fusionfx24.com site replicates its content and graphic format;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the www.fusionfx24.com website and relevant https://my.fusionfx24.com web page 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 opportunity through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and issue orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the www.fusionfx24.com website and its respective https://my.fusionfx24.com web page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since there have been reports of cold calling targeted at retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS "Fusion Fx" is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public since it is not enrolled on the register kept 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 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 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 www.fusionfx24.com website and relevant https://my.fusionfx24.com page, constituting the offer and 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 of the date of service.

31 March 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona