Resolution no. 23253

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 committed via the https://multibankfx.com website and the relative https://my.multibankfx.com page

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:

1. potential investors are offered the opportunity via the website https://multibankfx.com – which is active, registered anonymously and also available in Italian – to trade shares and CFDs on currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies;
2. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website https://multibankfx.com through a process that is also available for Italian users on the page https://my.multibankfx.com - open an account and deposit relevant funds;
3. in particular, the https://multibankfx.com website mentions three types of account referred to as "Standard", "Pro" and "ECN", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits offered;
4. as to traceability, the https://multibankfx.com website contains, inter alia, numerous references to "Multibank Group";

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://multibankfx.com website and relevant page https://my.multibankfx.com constitutes 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 aforementioned activity, carried out via the website https://multibankfx.com and its page https://my.multibankfx.com, is ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the website https://multibankfx.com 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 https://multibankfx.com; Moreover, Italian retail investors have complained about capital losses in relation to the initiatives promoted on https://multibankfx.com, whilst no mechanism was found on the same website https://multibankfx.com aimed at preventing registration by users who attempt to subscribe from Italy/via Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the website https://multibankfx.com and on its page https://my.multibankfx.com are not 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 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 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 infringement of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 carried out through the https://multibankfx.com website and its https://my.multibankfx.com page, which constitutes 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.

18 September 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona