Consob resolution no. 22319 of April 27, 2022 - CONSOB AND ITS ACTIVITIES
resolution
Resolution no. 22319
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 www.infinity4x.io
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 www.infinity4x.io website, which is active and also available in Italian, offers a potential investor the opportunity, amongst other things, to trade on the forex market as well as CFDs on cryptocurrencies and shares;
ii. in order to place such trades, a user must register with the www.infinity4x.io website, open an account and deposit the necessary funds; specifically, five types of account are advertised, known as "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold", "Platinum" and "Vip", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
iii. as far as traceability is concerned, generic references to "Infinity4X"are present in the "Terms and Conditions" section of the website;
iv. the contacts section of the website contains, among other things, a form for requesting information, the email address support@Infinity4X.com as well as an address in the United Kingdom.
HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22276 of 24 March 2022, whereby "Infinity4X" was ordered to cease its infringement of Article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out through the separate www.infinity4x.com website;
WHEREAS the activity carried out through the websitewww.infinity4x.io is deemed to constitute 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 such activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the www.infinity4x.io website is also available in Italian;
WHEREAS "Infinity4X", mentioned on the www.infinity4x.io website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear to be 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 website www.infinity4x.io, constituted by the 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.
27 April 2022
THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona