Resolution no. 22798

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 https://jfdtrade.net and the relevant page https://account.jfdtrade.net

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 checks on the web, it emerged that:

1. potential investors are offered the opportunity via the https://jfdtrade.net website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs on currencies, shares, cryptocurrencies and commodities;
2. in order to place such trading transactions, users must register with the website https://jfdtrade.net, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open an account in which to deposit funds; specifically, four types of account (“Micro ”, “Argento” (Silver), “Oro” (Gold) and “Platino” (Platinum)) are advertised on the website;
3. after registration on the website, customers may log into the reserved area at https://account.jfdtrade.net, available in Italian, where there is a specific function to deposit funds on the trading account;
4. as to the traceability of the https://jfdtrade.net website, there are generic references on its pages to “JFD Market”;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the website https://jfdtrade.net and the respective page https://account.jfdtrade.net 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 aforementioned activity, carried out through the website https://jfdtrade.net and its page https://account.jfdtrade.net is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said domains are available in Italian and, as regards the https://jfdtrade.net website, no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the domains in question from Italy through Italian IP addresses. Moreover, regarding the website https://jfdtrade.net, reports have been received of investment solicitation by cold calling towards retail investors in Italy, and furthermore complaints have been received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the website https://jfdtrade.net 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 breach 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 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the website https://jfdtrade.net and the respective page https://account.jfdtrade.net, consisting in offering and providing investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the public through publication in the Consob Bulletin.

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

26 July 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona