Resolution no. 23212

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.partnersce.cm and the related webpages https://client.partnersce.cm and https://webtrader.partnersce.cm

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 via the www.partnersce.cm website – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade CFDs on currencies and indices via the specific platform hosted at the webtrader.partnersce.cm webpage;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.partnersce.cm through a process that is also available for Italian users on the page client.partnersce.cm - open an account and deposit relevant funds

iii. in particular, the website www.partnersce.cm mentions three types of account referred to as Smart", "Esperto (Expert)" and "Finanziario Guru (Financial Guru)", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;

iv. as to traceability, the website contains generic references to "Partnersce", for which an email address (support@partnersce.cm) is provided;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the website www.partnersce.cm and its related pageshttps://client.partnersce.cm and https://webtrader.partnersce.cm 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 through the said domains of opening a trading account where they can place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity, carried out via the website www.partnersce.cm and its pages https://client.partnersce.cm and https://webtrader.partnersce.cm, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website www.partnersce.cm is available in Italian, and there have been reports of cold calls being made to retail investors in Italy in relation to the initiatives promoted via the said website www.partnersce.cm; Furthermore, a copy of the conversations that took place in Italian via instant messaging applications between operators of the website partnersce.cm and Italian investors was acquired from the records; complaints have been received from Italian retail investors who complained about not being able to obtain a refund of the capital deposited to trade via the website www.partnersce.cm and in the same website www.partnersce.cm it was ascertained that there are no mechanisms aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to register from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the www.partnersce.cm website and its https://client.partnersce.cm and https://webtrader.partnersce.cm pages are not 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 website www.partnersce.cm and the related webpages https://client.partnersce.cm and https://webtrader.partnersce.cm, consisting of 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 publication.

17 July 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona