Resolution no. 23139

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://forexelite.trade website and the https://my.forexelite.trade webpage

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

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:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the website https://forexelite.trade – which is active, available in Italian via automatic translation systems and registered anonymously – to trade contracts on currencies, indices, shares and commodities using a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to place trading transactions, users must register with the https://forexelite.trade website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account: specifically, seven different types of accounts are advertised on the website ("Basic", "Discovery", "Silver", "Gold", "Premium", "VIP" and "VIP+") which differ, moreover, according to the minimum required deposit; after registering with the website, users can access the reserved area at https://my.forexelite.trade, where they can make deposits on the trading account;

iii. as to traceability, the contractual terms available on the website contain references to "Forexelite Limited", while the "Contacts" webpage states that "Forexelite is the brand name of Elite Trading Academy Limited", a company with its alleged registered office in Dubai;

HAVING REGARD TO Consob Resolution no. 22929 of 6 December 2023, whereby the order was given to aforementioned "Forexelite Limited" and "Elite Trading Academy Limited" to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the https://forexelite.co website and the https://clientzone.forexelite.co and https://wt.forexelite.co webpages;

WHEREAS, in addition to using a domain that is similar to the domain of the aforementioned site https://forexelite.co, the site https://forexelite.trade replicates the content and graphic format of the former website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://forexelite.trade website and the https://my.forexelite.trade webpage 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 https://forexelite.trade website and the https://my.forexelite.trade webpage is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said website is available in Italian via automatic translation systems and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy/through Italian IP addresses. In addition, there have been reports of Italian investors being contacted, who have submitted complaints;

WHEREAS the https://forexelite.trade website and the https://my.forexelite.trade webpage may not 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 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 activities 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 provisions of Article 7-octies, letter b) of the Consolidated Law on Finance - "Powers to counteract unauthorised provision of investment services" - pursuant to which 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 that the 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 article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the https://forexelite.trade website and the https://my.forexelite.trade webpage, 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 of the date of service.

30 May 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona