Resolution no. 22783

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 websites https://eibank.io and https://kunderbank.io and their pages https://my.kunderbank.io and https://web.kunderbank.io

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, as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING REGARD to Legislative Decree no. 58 of 24 February 1998 (“Consolidated Law on Finance”), as subsequently amended and supplemented;

HAVING ESTABLISHED that, from the checks carried out, it emerged that:

1. the website https://kunderbank.io, which is active, anonymously registered, and available in Italian through an automatic translation system available in the 'Google Chrome' browser, is divided into the sections “Casa” (Home), “Conti” (Accounts), “Piattaforma” (Platform), “Contatti” (Contacts), “Partner” (Partners), “Circa la Società” (About the Company) and “Trading di Crypto” (Crypto Trading) and offers the possibility of trading in “Forex, shares, indices, CFDs, digital currencies and commodities”, subject to registration and opening of one of the advertised trading accounts (“Principiante” (Beginner), “Argento” (Silver), “Oro” (Gold) and “Platino” (Platinum));
2. the content of the website https://kunderbank.io is replicated on the website https://eibank.io through which it is also possible to trade “Forex, shares, indices, CFDs, digital currencies and commodities”;
3. tafter registering on the https://kunderbank.io website, it is possible to access the reserved area of the website available at the address https://my.kunderbank.io, where there is a special function dedicated to depositing cash on the trading account. The same restricted area, with the possibility of depositing cash in the trading account, is also available via the address https://web.kunderbank.io, accessible from the https://eibank.io website;
4. tas to the legal entity to which the websites under investigation are traceable, a generic reference to “Caledonia Advisory” appeared on the “Contact” page;
5. both websites are registered under an unknown user located at the same IP address and have the same hosting provider;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the above websites https://eibank.io and https://kunderbank.io and the pages https://my.kunderbank.io and https://web.kunderbank.io may be considered as the provision of investment services within the meaning of article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the domain offers users the opportunity of opening a trading account against which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be issued;

WHEREAS the above-mentioned operations, carried out through the websites https://eibank.io and https://kunderbank.io and the pages https://my.kunderbank.io and https://web.kunderbank.io are in progress as well as aimed at Italian investors, given that complaints have been received from Italian investors who have reported cold calling activities and contact via "WhatsApp”, and that there is no mechanism to prevent registration by users who attempt to register to the websites from Italy through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS “Caledonia Advisory”, as referenced on the above websites, 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 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 article 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 through the Internet without being qualified pursuant to this decree: […] b) order that such infringement cease”;

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 art. 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 performed through the websites https://eibank.io and https://kunderbank.io and the pages https://my.kunderbank.io and https://web.kunderbank.io, consisting of the provision of 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 of the date of service.

19 July /2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona