Resolution no. 22346

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://finomarkets.info

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 https://finomarkets.info website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs relating to currencies;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://finomarkets.info – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – open an account and deposit the necessary funds;

iii. in particular, the website https://finomarkets.info lists three types of account, referred to as “Argento”, “Oro” and “Platino” [“Silver”, “Gold” and “Platinum”], depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the footer of the website https://finomarkets.info and the “Terms and Conditions” section of the same domain make reference to “FinoMarkets”, with registered address in London;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22030 of 6 October 2021, whereby “FinoMarkets”, with its registered address in London, was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website www.finomarkets.com;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is partially similar to the domain of the aforementioned website www.finomarkets.com, the website https://finomarkets.info replicates the content and graphic format of the said www.finomarkets.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://finomarkets.info constitutes the provision of investment services according to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity to open a trading account and place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity, carried out through the website https://finomarkets.info, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since said website is available in Italian;

WHEREAS “FinoMarkets”, with its stated registered office in London, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it is not listed in the register maintained 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 https://finomarkets.info, constituted by offering 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.

25 May 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona