Resolution no. 22316

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 via the http://gladiolustox.com website and relevant https://clientzone.gladiolustox.com webpage

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 http://gladiolustox.com website – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade on the forex market as well as on CFDs relating, amongst other things, to indices and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the http://gladiolustox.com website – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds; specifically, four types of account are advertised on the site, known as "Standard", "Professionale", "Business"and "Business Plus", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after completing the registration procedure, it is possible to access the reserved area of the site, available at the address https://clientzone.gladiolustox.com, where, among other things, the functions for activating the trading account are present;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, there are references in the "Terms and Conditions" section of the site to the company called "Gladiolu Stox Limited"; at the foot of the web pages on the http://gladiolustox.com site it specifies that it "is operated byGladiolu Stox Markets Ltd" which has its registered address in Mauritius;

v. The "Contacts" section, provides the email addresses: support@gladiolustox.com, affiliates@gladiolustox.com and rrewards@gladiolustox.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the http://gladiolustox.com website and relevant https://clientzone.gladiolustox.com 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 place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the http://gladiolustox.com website and the relevant https://clientzone.gladiolustox.com page, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the http://gladiolustox.com site is also available in Italian, and moreover, there have been reports of cold calls being made to Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS Gladiolu Stox Limited, with its registered address in Mauritius, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in 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 conducted through the website http://gladiolustox.com and the respective page https://clientzone.gladiolustox.com, 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.

27 April 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona