Resolution no. 22622

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://tradegenics.co 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:

1. the website https://tradegenics.co – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities and shares;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://tradegenics.co via a process that is also available for Italian users, open an account and deposit relevant funds;
3. in particular, the website https://tradegenics.co mentions three types of account referred to as "Beginner", "Premium" and "Business", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;
4. as far as traceability is concerned, the website https://tradegenics.co contains references to Shlack Consulting LLC, with registered office in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and also displays an e-mail address (support@tradegenics.co);

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://tradegenics.co website constitutes the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through said domain to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS such activity, carried out through the website https://tradegenics.co, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://tradegenics.co is also available in Italian and that there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy regarding the initiatives promoted by the website https://tradegenics.co. Evidence has also been acquired of conversations that took place, through instant messaging applications, in Italian between Italian retail investors and employees of the website https://tradegenics.co. Furthermore, complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who complained about not being able to obtain a refund of the capital deposited to trade through the website https://tradegenics.co and it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register with the website https://tradegenics.co from Italy/Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS Shlack Consulting LLC, mentioned on the website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar it is not listed in the dedicated register held by Consob pursuant to art. 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 that the infringement cease of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the https://tradegenics.co website, 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.

8 March 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona