Resolution no. 22331

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://saxo-stock.com and the respective webpages https://my.saxo-stock.com and https://webtrader.saxo-stock.com

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://saxo-stock.com – which is active, registered anonymously and partially available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, cryptocurrencies, shares and commodities through a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://saxo-stock.com – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – open a trading account, deposit the necessary funds, then access the reserved area available at the page https://my.saxo-stock.com, which is available in Italian;

iii. in particular, the website https://saxo-stock.com mentions three types of account known as "Micro", "Standard" and "Premium", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. the homepage of the site https://saxo-stock.com also contains a hyperlink labelled "Log in", which routes the user to the address https://webtrader.saxo-stock.com, which is the login page to the site https://saxo-stock.com for users who are already registered;

v. as regards traceability, the contractual document "Client Agreement" reported on the website https://saxo-stock.com states that "Magna Markets Limited" ("Company" or "Magna Markets"), whose registered office is located at: P.O. Box 1825, Cedar Hill Crest, Villa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, registration number 21567 IBC 2013 renders the "Client Portal" service under the terms of this public proposal ("Agreement") to any individual or legal entity ("Client")".

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://saxo-stock.com website and relative https://my.saxo-stock.com and https://webtrader.saxo-stock.com pagesconstitutes 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 said domains of opening a trading account where they can place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://saxo- stock.com and the respective pages https://my.saxo-stock.com and https://webtrader.saxo-stock.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since these domains can also be consulted in Italian and there have also been reports of cold calling towards retail investors in Italy; moreover, the reserved area available at the address https://my.saxo-stock.com was found to be available in Italian;

WHEREAS the company Magna Markets Limited, with its stated registered address at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, given that 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 carried out through the https://saxo-stock.com website and relevant https://my.saxo-stock.com and https://webtrader.saxo-stock.com pages, which constitutes the offering 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.

10 May 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona