Resolution no. 22504

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 https://nbimarkets.com website and relative https://account.nbimarkets.com and https://trading.nbimarkets.com webpages

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 24 February 1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") and subsequent amendments and supplements;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that checks on the internet ascertained that:

i. the https://nbimarkets.com website, which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity, subject to prior opening of an account, to trade CFDs on underlying currencies, shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://nbimarkets.com website through a procedure that is also available for Italian users via the account link which routes users to the https://account.nbimarkets.com webpage;

iii. after registering, users can access the reserved area of the website available at https://trading.nbimarkets.com, where they can make deposits into their account and access the trading platform;

iv. as for traceability, among other things, there are generic references on the website to NBI Markets;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://nbimarkets.com website and relative https://account.nbimarkets.com and https://trading.nbimarkets.com webpagesconstitutes the provision of investment services, within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are offered the opportunity, through the said domains, of opening a trading account where they can place buy and/or sell orders for financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out through the https://nbimarkets.com website and relative https://account.nbimarkets.com and https://trading.nbimarkets.com webpages, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the above domains are available in Italian and there have also been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy; Moreover, capital losses have been reported by Italian retail investors in relation to the initiatives promoted through the https:nbimarkets.com website, whilst no mechanism was found aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to subscribe to the https://nbimarkets.com website from Italy/via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the abovementioned internet domains 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 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 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 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 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 via the https://nbimarkets.com website and relative >https://account.nbimarkets.com and https://trading.nbimarkets.com webpages, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the all 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 November 2022

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona