Resolution no. 22506

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://clydetrade.world website

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://clydetrade.world website is active and also available in Italian;

ii. subject to opening an account via a registration process that is also open to Italian users, the website offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, indices and commodities;

iii. in order to trade, users must deposit funds in the account opened online; specifically, three types of account are offered on the https://clydetrade.world website, referred to as "Simple", "Advanced" and "Professional";

iv. as far as the https://clydetrade.world website's traceability is concerned, the company Tetris Group Ltd with its registered office in the Commonwealth of Dominica is indicated at the foot of its home page;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22211 of 16 February 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://clydetrade.pro, https://clydetrade.co, https://sierrainvest.pro and https://battletrade.co websites;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22286 of 31 March 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://sierrainvest.io and https://battletrade.pro websites;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22344 of 25 May 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://clydetrade.io website;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22361 of 15 June 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://battletrade.io website;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22469 of 5 October 2022, whereby Tetris Group Ltd was ordered to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate https://clydetrade.com website;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned https://clydetrade.pro, https://clydetrade.co, https://clydetrade.io and https://clydetrade.com websites, the https://clydetrade.world website replicates the content and graphic format of said https://clydetrade.pro, https://clydetrade.co, https://clydetrade.io and https://clydetrade.com websites;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://clydetrade.world website is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as clients are offered the opportunity of opening a trading account and issuing buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out though the https://clydetrade.world website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the aforementioned domain is also available in Italian and, moreover, no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register from Italy through Italian IP addresses. Complains have also been lodged by Italian savers in relation to the initiatives promoted through said internet domain;

WHEREAS the company Tetris Group Ltd, which is mentioned on the https://clydetrade.world website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as 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 to provide investment services and activities 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 provisions of article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services" - pursuant to which 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 https://clydetrade.world website consisting in offering and providing investment services and transactions 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