Resolution no.23226

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 websites https://euroinvestgroup.co and https://euroinvestgroup.limited and the related pages https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited

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 website https://euroinvestgroup.limited directs the user to the website https://euroinvestgroup.co, which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian through automatic translation systems. The website https://euroinvestgroup.co, offers potential investors the possibility to trade contracts for differences (CFDs) with underlying currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies;

ii. to carry out such trading, users must register on the website https://euroinvestgroup.co, on https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and subsequently open a trading account. In particular, four types of account are proposed: "Standard\" Silver "," Gold "and" VIP ", which differ in terms of the minimum deposit amount and operating characteristics;

iii. via an additional page https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited, it is also possible to register and access the reserved area of the website, where the trading platform is available;

iv. regarding traceability of the transaction, the website https://euroinvestgroup.co indicates the company Europe Investment Group Ltd without specifying the address of a registered office.

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the websites https://euroinvestgroup.co and https://euroinvestgroup.limited and the related pageshttps://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that the above domain allows users to trade financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://euroinvestgroup.co is available in Italian through automatic translation systems, whereas the pages https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited are directly available in Italian; furthermore, no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses; in addition, contact with Italian investors was reported (specifically, through "cold calling") and online advertising was found to be actively seeking customers based on the improper use of the image and name of well-known personalities on the Italian market, with complaints received from Italian investors who complained that they were unable to get their money back;

WHEREAS the websites https://euroinvestgroup.co and https://euroinvestgroup.limited and the related pages https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited cannot be attributed to an entity which is authorised to provide investment services to the Italian public, insofar as the company Europe Investment Group Ltd is not listed in the register maintained by Consob pursuant to article 20 of the Consolidated Law on Finance;

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 the cessation of the infringement";

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. 58/1998 carried out via the websites https://euroinvestgroup.co and https://euroinvestgroup.limited and the related pages https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.co and https://cfd.euroinvestgroup.limited, which constitute the 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.

25 July 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona