Resolution no. 22677

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 thehttps://solidxm.com website and relevant https://register.solidxm.com and https://portal.solidxm.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 https://solidxm.com – which is active and also available in Italian through machine translation mechanisms – offers potential investors the possibility to trade shares, indices, ETFs, digital currencies and commodities via a trading platform: in this regard, the website states that "with Solid XM you can trade over 2000 assets with one of the most advanced trading platform [sic] on the market. You will have your account manager helping you step by step to make the investment plan that most suites [sic] you. Diversify your portfolio between ETFs, indices, shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies";
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://solidxm.com through a procedure that is also available for Italian users, and subsequently open a trading account and deposit the necessary funds. After registering with the abovementioned website by filling out a form available at the URL https://register.solidxm.com, users can access the reserved area of the website at https://portal.solidxm.com, where they can, among other things, deposit funds on the account;
3. as to the traceability of the site https://solidxm.com, generic reference is made to 'Solid XM' and the e-mail address info@solidxm.com is provided, while the contractual terms document states that "Solid XM is owned and operated by AMA Business Solutions Ltd", with reported headquarters in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the e-mail address support@solidxm.com;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://solidxm.com and relevant webpages https://register.solidxm.com and https://portal.solidxm.com constitutes 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 https://solidxm.com and the respective webpages https://register.solidxm.com and https://portal.solidxm.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the above domains are available in Italian through machine translation tools, reports of cold calling of Italian customers have been received, no mechanism has been found to block registration by users attempting to register with said website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the website https://solidxm.com and respective webpages https://register.solidxm.com and https://portal.solidxm.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 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://solidxm.com and the respective pages https://register.solidxm.com and https://portal.solidxm.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.

19 April 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona