Resolution no. 22663

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 thewww.mfssecurities.comwebsite and relevant https://client.mfssecurities.com and https://trade.mfssecurities.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 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 mfssecurities.com - which is active and also available in Italian - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade shares, futures, CFDs on currencies and digital currencies, and commodities via a trading platform;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website mfssecurities.com through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, and subsequently open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds. After registering, users can access the reserved area of the website available at https://client.mfssecurities.com, where they can make deposits into their account and select the link "Web Trader", which redirects the user to the trading platform available on the website https://trade.mfssecurities.com;
3. as for the traceability of the website mfssecurities.com, generic reference is made to "MFS Securities Corporation" accompanied by the statement "country of registration United Kingdom" on the page footers;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.mfssecurities.com and relevant webpages https://client.mfssecurities.com and https://trade.mfssecurities.com is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services, as referred to in article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the above domains offer users the possibility of opening a trading account on which to place buy and/or sell orders on financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the website www.mfssecurities.com and the respective webpages https://client.mfssecurities.com and https://trade.mfssecurities.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said websites are available in Italian, and that no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses, and it has been reported that Italian savers were contacted via remote communication methods;

WHEREAS the website www.mfssecurities.com and relative webpages https://client.mfssecurities.com and https://trade.mfssecurities.com cannot be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD to the fact that the provision of investment services and activities is reserved for licensed parties as referred to under article 18, paragraph 1, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, pursuant to which "The commercial 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 www.mfssecurities.com and respective pages https://client.mfssecurities.com and https://trade.mfssecurities.com, constituted by the offer and provision of 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.

5 April 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona