Resolution no. 23334

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 www.fsinvest.cm website and the respective web pages https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.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 the checks carried out, it emerged that:

1. potential investors are offered the opportunity, after opening an account, through the www.fsinvest.cm website, which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously, to trade forex, CFDs, shares, indices, metal, energy, raw materials and digital currencies via a trading platform;
2. on the website, two types of account are proposed, known as “Standard” and “Piano Express (Express Plan)”, depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;
3. following registration, users can access the restricted area of the website available at https://client.fsinvest.cm where it is possible to make deposits to the trading account and select the “Access” link through which they are redirected to the trading platform, which can be found at https://webtrader.fsinvest.cm;

iv. with regard to the legal entity to which the website refers, it should be noted that there are generic references in it to “First State Investments (Ireland) Limited”;

HAVING REGARD to Consob Resolution no. 23211 of 17 July 2024, whereby “First State Investments (Ireland) Limited”  was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out via the separate website www.fsi.cm and its https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm pages;

HAVING REGARD to Consob Resolution no. 23276 of 9 October 2024, whereby “First State Investments (Ireland) Limited” was ordered to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance carried out via the further separate www.fsi247.io website and the https://client.fsi247.io and https://webtrader.fsi247.io pages;

WHEREAS the www.fsinvest.cm website and the https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.cm pages have content and graphic format similar to those of the aforementioned websites www.fsi.cm and its https://client.fsi.cm and https://webtrader.fsi.cm pages and www.fsi247.io and its https://client.fsi247.io and https://webtrader.fsi247.io pages;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the www.fsinvest.cm website and the https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.cm 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 the opportunity, through the above-mentioned domains, of opening a trading account, on which purchase and/or sale orders for financial instruments may be placed;

WHEREAS the above activity, carried out through the www.fsinvest.cmwebsite and the https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.cmpages, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that the aforementioned web domains are active, also available in Italian, and that cold calling of Italian consumers has also been reported and that no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register from Italy/through Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS such activity carried out through the www.fsinvest.cm website and the https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.cm 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 www.fsinvest.cm website and the pages https://client.fsinvest.cm and https://webtrader.fsinvest.cm, which constitute 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.

27 November 2024

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona