Resolution no. 22353

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://agmmarkets.net and the respective page https://account.agmmarkets.net

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 checks on the internet ascertained that:

i. the website https://agmmarkets.net, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity, subject to prior opening of an account, to operate on the Forex market and trade CFDs, digital currencies, shares, indices and commodities;

ii. to carry out such transactions, users must register with the website https://agmmarkets.net, through a process that is also available for users connecting from Italy, which makes it possible to access the reserved area at the address https://account.agmmarkets.net, which offers several features, including a special function dedicated to depositing and withdrawing funds on the trading account;

iii. regarding the traceability of the website, thedocument “Terms-and-Conditions"makes reference to “AGMmarkets" and there is also a form for requesting any information and details of the email addresses supporto@agmmarkets.com and compliance@agmmarkets.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://agmmarkets.net and the relevant page https://account.agmmarkets.netconstitutes 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 possibility through the aforementioned domains to open a trading account on which it is possible to issue purchase and/or sale orders relating to financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://agmmarkets.net and the respective page https://account.agmmarkets.net, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the websites are available in Italian and that there have also been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy;

WHEREAS the abovementioned domains are cannot be attributed to any party authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

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 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 carried out through the website https://agmmarkets.net and the relevant page https://account.agmmarkets.net, constituted by the offer 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.

9 June 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona