Resolution no. 22426

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.brokercapitals.com and the respective page https://platform.brokercapitals.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 www.brokercapitals.com – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, shares and commodities through a trading platform;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.brokercapitals.com – through a procedure that is also available for Italian users – and open an account. After registering, the user can access the reserved area of the site available at the address https://platform.brokercapitals.com where several features are available, including a special function dedicated to making cash deposits on the trading account;

iii. in particular, the website www.brokercapitals.com mentions three types of account known as "Micro", "Standard" and "Premium", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as far as traceability is concerned, the contractual document "Client Agreement", contained within the website www.brokercapitals.com, makes references to the company Broker Capitals Limited with stated registered office in "St. Vincent and the Grenadines".

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolutions no. 22332 of 10 May 2022 and no. 22356 of 9 June 2022, whereby the company Broker Capitals Limited was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the website https://finexstock.com and the respective pages https://platform.finexstock.com, https://finexstock.eu and https://platform.finexstock.eu;

WHEREAS the website www.brokercapitals.com replicates the content and graphic format of the aforementioned websites https://finexstock.com and https://finexstock.eu;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.brokercapitals.com and respective webpage https://platform.brokercapitals.com 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 www.brokercapitals.com and the respective page https://platform.brokercapitals.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforementioned domains are also available in Italian

and no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users who attempt to register with the website www.brokercapitals.com from Italy/through Italian IP addresses; Moreover, regarding the website www.brokercapitals.com, 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;

WHEREAS the company Broker Capitals 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 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 conducted through the website www.brokercapitals.com and the respective page https://platform.brokercapitals.com, 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.

28 July 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona