Resolution no. 22445

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://grandtrades.eu and the respective page https://client.grandtrades.eu

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 https://grandtrades.eu website, which is active and registered anonymously, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices and commodities through the platform hosted on the https://client.grandtrades.eu webpage;

ii. in order to be able to trade, registration with the website, through a procedure that is also available to Italian users, and opening of an account to deposit funds in are required. Specifically, four types of account are offered on the website, called "Micro", "Standard", "Premium" and "VIP", depending on the associated benefits;

iii. the company "GrandTrade Pvt Ltd" is mentioned at the bottom of the website pages, without any indication of its registered office.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://grandtrades.eu website and relevant https://client.grandtrades.eu 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 https://grandtrades.eu website and relevant https://client.grandtrades.eu webpage, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the https://grandtrades.eu website from Italy/Italian IP addresses. In addition, there have been reports of cold calling of retail investors in Italy.

WHEREAS the company Grandtrade Pvt Ltd, mentioned on the https://grandtrades.eu website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the register kept by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence in order to provide investment services, as per 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 unauthorised provision of investment services" - 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 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. 58/1998 carried out through the website https://grandtrades.eu and the relevant page https://client.grandtrades.eu, constituting the 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.

6 September 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona