Resolution no. 23142

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://primuscfd.net and its page https://client.primuscfd.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:

i. the https://primuscfd.net website is active and proposes to potential investors the possibility to trade on the forex market and on CFDs relating to cryptocurrencies, indices and commodities;

ii. in order to carry out such trading transactions, users must register with the https://primuscfd.net website and open a trading account; specifically, two types of account are available, known as "Micro" and "Standard" , depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after completing registration, users can log into the reserved area of the https://primuscfd.netwebsite, available at the internet addresshttps://client.primuscfd.net, where there is a special function dedicated to depositing money on the trading account;

iv. the https://primuscfd.net website contains generic references to "Primuscfd.net" and to the email address "support@primuscfd.com".

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://primuscfd.net website and the related https://client.primuscfd.net webpage constitutes 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 via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since cold calling of Italian customers has been reported to advertise such activity on the https://primuscfd.net website, no mechanism has been found to block registration to the reserved area of the https://primuscfd.net website from Italy through Italian IP addresses and complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who reported that they were unable to recover the invested amounts;

WHEREAS the https://primuscfd.net website and its page https://client.primuscfd.net 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 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 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the https://primuscfd.net website and its https://client.primuscfd.net page, 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.

5 June 2024

IL PRESIDENTE
Paolo Savona