Resolution no. 22689

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://europemarket.io website and relevant https://client.europemarket.io and https://webtrader.europemarket.io 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://europemarket.io - which is active and 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 trading transactions, users must register with the website https://europemarket.io 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: "Bronze", "Silver", "Gold" and "Black", which differ, among other things, according to the required deposit; After registering, users can access the reserved area of the website available at https://client.europemarket.io, where, clicking on "Login", they can access the trading platform at the URL address https://webtrader.europemarket.io;
3. as for the traceability of the website https://europemarket.io, in the website generic reference is made to "Europemarket", while the terms and conditions provided online reference is made to "EZ2GO Ltd" as counterparty with registered address in Dominica;

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 21809 of 22 April 2021, whereby the order was given to the same "EZ2GO Ltd" to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.capitalfx.co website and the relevant https://client.capitalfx.co web page;

WHEREAS the website https://europemarket.io has similar content and graphic format to the website www.capitalfx.co;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://europemarket.io website and relative https://client.europemarket.io and https://webtrader.europemarket.io webpages, constitutes 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 possibility 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://europemarket.io and relative https://client.europemarket.io and https://webtrader.europemarket.io webpages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said website is available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses, and reports have been received of employees of the website contacting Italian savers;

WHEREAS the website https://europemarket.io 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 https://europemarket.io website and relevant https://client.europemarket.io and https://webtrader.europemarket.io webpages, which constitutes the offering 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.

3 May 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona