Resolution no. 23145

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://wallstreeteuro.com website and the respective web pages https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com and https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com

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:

i. the https://wallstreeteuro.com website, which is also active and available in Italian, provides the opportunity, subject to the opening of a "brokerage account", to trade in shares, options, futures, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and mutual funds; the opportunity of receiving financial advice on creating share portfolios is also offered;

ii. in order to carry out the aforementioned transactions, users must register by selecting the "Open Account" hyperlink, which redirects to the https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com page that allows access to the reserved area of the website from which it is then possible to access a trading platform that can be reached via the https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com webpage;

iii. with regard to the legal entity to which the website refers, it should be noted that there are generic references in it to "Wallstreet Euro Futures LLC" and "WSE";

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the https://wallstreeteuro.com website and the https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com and https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com pages may be considered as the provision of investment services, pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, insofar as users are given both the opportunity, through the above-mentioned domains, to open a trading account, on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be placed, and the possibility to use the investment financial advice service;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out via the https://wallstreeteuro.com website and the https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com and https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com pages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website is active, also available in Italian, and that cold calling of Italian consumers has also been reported; furthermore no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses and reports have been received from Italian individuals who have complained, among other things, that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the https://wallstreeteuro.com website and the https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com and https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com pages cannot be attributed to any entity that is authorised to professionally 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 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out via the https://wallstreeteuro.com website and the https://panel.wallstreeteuro.com and https://trading.wallstreeteuro.com pages, which constitute the offer and provision of 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 of the date of service.

5 June 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona