Resolution no. 22685

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://viviantrade.com website and its https://clients.viviantrade.com page

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://viviantrade.com - which is active and also available in Italian - offers potential investors the possibility to trade currencies, indices, shares and commodities via a trading platform;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://viviantrade.com through a procedure that is also available for users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account by filling out the form available at the URL https://clients.viviantrade.com, which can be reached from said website; specifically, the website states that "Vivian Trade offers account types that are suited for both new and experienced traders" and advertises two types of account named "Pantheon" and "Colloseum";
3. as for the traceability of the website https://viviantrade.com, generic reference is made on the website to "Vivian Trade" with reported registered address in Canada, and the email address info@viviantrade.com is provided;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://viviantrade.com and the respective page https://clients.viviantrade.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 above activity, carried out through the website https://viviantrade.com and the respective webpage https://clients.viviantrade.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as the above domains are available in Italian, reports of cold calling of Italian customers have been received and 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://viviantrade.com and the relevant page https://clients.viviantrade.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 conducted through the website https://viviantrade.com and the respective page https://clients.viviantrade.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.

26 April 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona