Resolution no. 23651 of 30/07/2025

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 committed via the applications for mobile devices called "CapFirst" and "CapOne"

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 applications for mobile devices called "CapFirst" (for Android operating systems) and "CapOne" (for IOS operating systems) have identical content, the same graphic layout and are identified by an almost similar icon;

ii. the "CapFirst" and "CapOne" applications, which are also available in Italian, offer potential investors the possibility to perform trading on shares and indices;

iii. to carry out such trading, users must register with the "CapFirst" and "CapOne" applications and subsequently open a trading account;

iv. after completing the registration procedure, it was possible to access the sections of the "CapFirst" and "CapOne" applications called "HOME", "FAVOURITES", "MARKET"; "ASSETS" and "ACCOUNT" where, among other things, the features dedicated to financial instruments trading, as well as "topping up" of the trading account, "withdrawing" and "transferring funds" are available.

WHEREAS the activity carried out via the "CapFirst" and "CapOne" applications is deemed to constitute the provision of investment services pursuant to article 1, paragraph 5, of the Consolidated Law on Finance, given that users are offered the opportunity through these to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the aforementioned activity is still ongoing and aimed at Italian investors, insofar as said applications are available in Italian, there have been reports of investment solicitation, also through "WhatsApp" groups, towards Italian clients, and no mechanism was found to block registration by users attempting to register with the website from Italy through Italian IP addresses. In addition, complaints were received from Italian retail investors who claimed that they were unable to get back the amounts paid in;

WHEREAS the "CapFirst" and "CapOne" applications cannot 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, 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 applications for mobile devices called "CapFirst" (for Android operating systems) and "CapOne" (for IOS operating systems), consisting in the offering and provision of investment services and activities to the Italian public.

This Resolution shall be disclosed to the parties concerned with publication in the Consob Bulletin.

This measure may be appealed before the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio within 60 days.

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona