Resolution no. 22619

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://bstrade.world and the respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.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:

1. the website https://bstrade.world, which is also available in Italian, offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs relating to currencies, indices, commodities and shares;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://bstrade.world – through a process that can be accessed, including by Italian users, on the page https://webtrader.bstrade.top, which can be reached directly from the homepage of the website https://bstrade.world – then open a trading account and deposit the relevant funds;
3. in particular, the website https://bstrade.world mentions three types of account referred to as "Community", "Premium" and "Business", depending on the benefits offered;
4. as to traceability, the website https://bstrade.world makes references to Florishing Group LLC, with reported registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22463 of 28 September 2022, which ordered Florishing Group LLC, with its registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to cease its infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate website https://bstrade.co and the respective webpage https://webtrader.bstrade.cc;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain name that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned website https://bstrade.co and its respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.cc, the website https://bstrade.world and the respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.top replicate the content and graphic format of the said website https://bstrade.co and respective web page https://webtrader.bstrade.cc;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://bstrade.world and the respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.top 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 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://bstrade.world and the respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.top, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the website https://bstrade.world and the respective page https://webtrader.bstrade.top are also available in Italian and the website https://bstrade.world was found to fail to block registration by users attempting to register with the same domain from Italy/Italian IP addresses. In addition, complaints were received from Italian savers in relation to the products promoted through the website https://bstrade.world;

WHEREAS Florishing Group LLC, with its registered address in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, mentioned on the website https://bstrade.world, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as 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 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 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 website https://bstrade.world and the respective webpage https://webtrader.bstrade.top, constituted by 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.

8 March 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona