Resolution no. 22371

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 website https://marketltd.co and the respective webpage https://webtrader.marketltd.top

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://marketltd.co – which is active and registered anonymously – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, commodities and shares through the platform available at the address https://webtrader.marketltd.top;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://marketltd.co – through a procedure that is also available in Italian – access their personal area – which is also available in Italian – and open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds;

iii. in particular, the website https://marketltd.co lists three types of account, referred to as "Cent", "Pro" and "Pro+", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the website https://marketltd.co makes references to Market Ltd, for which two e-mail addresses are provided; moreover, the footer of the website states that "This website is owned and operated by Propinquity Group Ltd", with registered address in the Commonwealth of Dominica;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://marketltd.co website and relevant https://webtrader.marketltd.top webpage 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 website https://marketltd.co and the relevant page https://webtrader.marketltd.top, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar the registration for the website https://marketltd.co and the personal area of the same domain are available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration from users from Italy/Italian IP addresses connecting to the website https://marketltd.co. Moreover, regarding the website https://marketltd.co, reports have been received of investment solicitation by cold calling towards retail investors in Italy, and furthermore complaints have been received from Italian retail investors regarding the offerings advertised by the website https://marketltd.co;

WHEREAS the companies Market Ltd and Propinquity Group Ltd, as mentioned on the website https://marketltd.co, are not authorised to provide investment services to the

Italian public, insofar as they are 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 licensed 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://marketltd.co website and its https://webtrader.marketltd.top webpage, 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.

22 June 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona