Resolution no. 22821

Order, pursuant to article 7-octies, paragraph 1, letter b) of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998 ("Consolidated Law on Finance") to cease the breach of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out via the https://afexeu.com website and https://client.afexeu.com related pages and the https://trade.afexeu.com website

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. the website https://afexeu.com - which is active and available in Italian - given potential investors the possibility of trade shares, contracts on currencies, cryptocurrencies, and commodities via a trading platform;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website at the URL https://client.afexeu.com, through a process that is also available to Italian users, and then open a trading account and to deposit the necessary funds. In this respect, the website offers five types of account (‘Entry’, ‘Standard’, ‘Premium ‘, ‘Gold’ and ‘VIP’), which differ in terms of the minimum deposit required, among other things. Once you have registered, you will enter the restricted area where you can click on the "Web Trader” link to access the trading platform at the URL https://trade.afexeu.com;
3. With regard to the traceability of the https://afexeu.com website, the website makes a generic reference to ‘AfexEU’ with no indication of the location or telephone numbers;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://afexeu.com website and its pages https://client.afexeu.com and https://trade.afexeu.com 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 via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, which is carried out via the https://afexeu.com website and its pages https://client.afexeu.com and https://trade.afexeu.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said Internet domains are available in Italian and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy using Italian IP addresses. Moreover, regarding the website afexeu.com, reports have been received of investment solicitation by cold calling to retail investors in Italy, and furthermore complaints have been received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the above domains cannot be attributed to an entity which is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as the company "AfexEU”, as mentioned on the above website, is not listed in the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 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 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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the website https://afexeu.com and the respective pages https://client.afexeu.com and https://trade.afexeu.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 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.

27 September 2023

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona