Resolution no. 22303

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 also carried out through the www.fastinvest.com 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 7th 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 checks on the internet ascertained the presence of the website www.fastinvest.com, which is active and accessible in Italian, the homepage of which contains a message inviting users to "earn money by investing in loans";

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the same page provides a function named "Calculate your investment", which allows users to calculate "the expected return assuming reinvestment of capital [with] interest calculated at 14% per year", as well as a list of "loans available for investment" for each of which information is provided in a table pertaining to, among other things, the total capital required, the expected interest rate, the closing date for participation in the investment and the amount of capital already invested;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the site contains, among other things, a description of the procedure that users must follow to "Earn with Fast Invest";

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the site in question also promotes functions called "Autoinvest" and "Secondary market" and that the "FAQ" section of the aforementioned website states that: "Auto Invest is an advanced investment tool that allows you to create an investment portfolio based on customised criteria. Once the Auto Invest function is launched, it will automatically filter and invest in loans based on your requirements"; "The system also offers users the opportunity to sell the loans on the Secondary Market if you do not want to wait for the loan to expire, your first option is to take advantage of the Secondary Market. FAST INVEST integrates the Secondary Market into our Primary Market";

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the "START NOW" button on the home page of the website www.fastinvest.com allows users to register and access the reserved area, which consists of 9 sections ("Dashboard", "Investments", "Auto Invest", "Add funds", "Exchange", "Statement", "Payment", "Information" and "Referrals") through which it is possible to open an account, deposit funds and choose projects to invest in;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that on the website in question, the alleged companies that own the entrepreneurial projects, who are to receive the loans, are identified by means of an alphanumeric code;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that the site www.fastinvest.com provides no information on the companies that own the business projects, nor descriptions of the characteristics of the alleged individual business projects to be financed;

WHEREAS Fast Invest Ltd., which was initially responsible for the activity carried out through the website, did not provide a response to the requests for information sent by CONSOB by means of notes sent on 27 January 2022 and 15 February 2022;

WHEREAS subsequently the activity carried out through the aforementioned website was found to be attributable to Fast Invest Group OÜ, to which a similar request for information was sent on 4 March 2022;

WHEREAS even with respect to this further communication the company did not provide a response to the request for information sent by CONSOB;

WHEREAS the website www.fastinvest.com allows investors to open an account, deposit funds and execute investments;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that Fast Invest Group OÜ appears to be the recipient of the funds deposited by investors;

WHEREAS the object of the website’s offering can be classified as a financial product by way of its being a "investment of a financial nature" given the significant presence of the elements qualifying this notion (capital contribution in expectation of a return and assumption of risk);

WHEREAS said activity carried out through the abovementioned site is deemed to constitute the offer of financial products through remote communication techniques (governed by Articles 30-32 of the TUF), insofar as the investor can execute the investment through such website;

WHEREAS, in order to carry out the activity of offering financial products by means of remote communication techniques, relevant authorisation is required to provide an investment placement service;

WHEREAS Fast Invest Group OÜ was not found to be authorised to provide investment services;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website www.fastinvest.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website is available in Italian and complaints have been received by Italian savers;

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 article 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 abuse" - 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. 58/98 also carried out through the website www.fastinvest.com, constituted by the offering of financial products through remote communication without the required authorisation to provide 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.

21 April 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona