Resolution no. 23590 of 4/6/2025

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 website www.sector-fusion.com and its page https://webtrader.w1e2b3tr4d3r.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. the www.sector-fusion.com website, which is active, also available in Italian and registered anonymously - offers potential investors the possibility to perform trading on the Forex market and on CFDs relating to indices, shares and commodities;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the website www.sector-fusion.com and open a trading account; specifically, within the website www.sector-fusion.com, four types of account are advertised, known as "Standard", "Professionale (Professional)", "Business" and "Business Plus", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iii. after completing the registration procedure, it was possible to access the reserved area of the website www.sector-fusion.com, available in Italian and available at the https://webtrader.w1e2b3tr4d3r.com page, where, among other things, there is a specific function for depositing money on the trading account;

iv. within the website www.sector-fusion.com, the email address "support@sector-fusion.com" is indicated.

HAVING REGARD TO Resolution no. 23469 of 12 March 2025, whereby the order was given to cease the infringement of article 18 of the Consolidated Law on Finance conducted through the separate www.sectorcapitals.com website and the relevant https://clientarea.w1e2b3tr4d3r.com web page;

WHEREAS the www.sector-fusion.com website has content and a graphic format similar to those of the aforementioned www.sectorcapitals.com website;

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the www.sector-fusion.com website and the related https://webtrader.w1e2b3tr4d3r.com webpage 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 via the aforementioned domains to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above activity is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, since the said domains are available in Italian, within the aforementioned website, content specifically aimed at attracting Italian retail investors has been found, such as the alleged ownership of a license issued by Consob, a contact activity has emerged with regard to Italian users and no mechanisms were found to block registration on the website www.sector-fusion.com by users attempting to register from Italy using Italian IP addresses;

WHEREAS the www.sector-fusion.com website and its page https://webtrader.w1e2b3tr4d3r.com may not be 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 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, paragraph 1, 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 breach of article 18 of Legislative Decree no. 58/98 conducted via the www.sector-fusion.com website and its https://webtrader.w1e2b3tr4d3r.com page, constituted by 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.

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona