Resolution no. 23194

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 via the website www.efslux.com and its page https://client.efslux.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 checks on the web, it emerged that:

i. potential investors are offered the opportunity, through the www.efslux.com website – which is active, available in Italian and registered anonymously – to trade contract for difference (CFDs) on shares, indices, commodities, currencies and digital currencies, using a dedicated trading platform;

ii. in order to place trading transactions, users must register with the website, through a process that is also available to users connecting from Italy, and open a trading account; specifically, five different types of account are advertised on the website ("Standard", "Silver" "Gold", "Platinum" and "VIP") which differ, moreover, according to the minimum required deposit;

iii. after registering, users can access the reserved area, available at https://client.efslux.com, where they can make deposits and access the trading platform;

iv. as for traceability, the website www.efslux.com makes reference to "EFS Lux" and a registered office in Luxembourg, and the e-mail address support@efslux.com is indicated;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website www.efslux.com and the related page https://client.efslux.com 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 above activity, carried out via the website www.efslux.com and the related pagehttps://client.efslux.com, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said website is available in Italian and that no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses; in relation to said website, contact with Italian customers was reported and complaints were received from Italian retail investors;

WHEREAS the www.efslux.com website and its page https://client.efslux.com may not be attributed to any entity authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public;

HAVING REGARD TO the requirement to hold a relevant licence to provide investment services and activities as per 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 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 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 www.efslux.com website and its page https://client.efslux.com, consisting in the offering 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.

10 July 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona