Resolution no. 22724

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 website www.capitalfxm.com and the relevant page https://client.capitalfxm.com

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. potential investors are offered the opportunity through the website capitalfxm.com – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian - to trade CFDs relating to currencies and shares;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website capitalfxm.com – through a process that can be accessed, including by Italian users, on the page https://client.capitalfxm.com, which can be reached directly from the homepage of the website www.capitalfxm.com – then open a trading account and deposit the relevant funds;
3. in particular, four types of account are mentioned on the website capitalfxm.com, named "Bronzo", "Argento", "Oro" and "Platino" ["Bronze", "Silver", "Gold" and "Platinum"], depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
4. as to traceability, at the foot of the pages of the website capitalfxm.com there are generic references to "CapitalFXM". Furthermore, in the "Contact us " section of the same website www.capitalfxm.com there is an indication of a contact e-mail address (support@capitalfxm.com);

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website www.capitalfxm.com and the respective page https://client.capitalfxm.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-described activity, carried out through the www.capitalfxm.com website and the relevant https://client.capitalfxm.com page, is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, given that the www.capitalfxm.com website is available in Italian, and there have also been reports in relation to the site, of investment solicitation addressed to retail investors in Italy. Moreover, in the www.capitalfxm.com website no mechanism was found that aims to block registration by users attempting to register with the same domain from Italy/via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS "CapitalFXM", mentioned on the www.capitalfxm.com website, is not authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, since it does not appear on the dedicated register held by Consob pursuant to art. 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 breach";

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 www.capitalfxm.com and the respective page https://client.capitalfxm.com, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be brought to the attention of the concerned parties and published in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days.

1 June 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona