Resolution no. 22666

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://ltd-fx.com website and its https://panel.ltd-fx.compage

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://ltd-fx.com - which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian - offers potential investors the opportunity to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, indices, and commodities;
2. in order to place such trading transactions, users must register with the website through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account on which to deposit funds; specifically, four different types of accounts are advertised on the website: "Membership", "Silver", "Gold" and "Platinum", which differ, among other things, according to the required deposit; After registering, users are granted access to the reserved area of the website at the address https://panel.ltd-fx.com, which contains a function for depositing liquidity on the trading account;
3. as far as traceability is concerned, the company BestProducts Ltd with reported registered office in London is mentioned in the site’s footer, while the "Terms and Conditions" document states that "Ltd-Fx is a trademark owned and operated by Pine Consulting LTD" with registered office in the Marshall Islands.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://ltd-fx.com and the respective page https://panel.ltd-fx.com 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://ltd- fx.com and the relevant page https://panel.ltd-fx.com, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar as these domains have been found to be available in Italian and complaints have been received of Italian savers not being able to withdraw their deposited funds. Evidence has also been acquired of conversations that took place through instant messaging applications and recordings in Italian between Italian retail investors and employees of the website. Furthermore, no mechanism was found aimed at blocking registration by users attempting to register with the website https://ltd-fx.com from Italy via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS Pine Consulting LTD, with registered office in the Marshall Islands and BestProducts Ltd,with stated registered office in London, both mentioned on the website https://ltd-fx.com, are not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as they are not listed in the register maintained 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 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 conducted through the website https://ltd-fx.com and the respective page https://panel.ltd-fx.com, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the public through publication 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