Resolution no. 23578

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 via the https://peaktradeoption.com website

LA COMMISSIONE NAZIONALE PER LE SOCIETÀ E LA BORSA

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. potential investors are offered the opportunity via the https://peaktradeoption.com website – which is active, registered anonymously and available in Italian – to trade CFDs on currencies, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies;

ii. in order to place such trades, users must register with the https://peaktradeoption.com website through a process that is also available for Italian users, open an account and deposit relevant funds;

iii. in particular, five types of account are mentioned on the https://peaktradeoption.com website, referred to as "Gold", "Premium", "Bronze", "Titanium" and "Diamond", depending on the minimum deposit required and the benefits promised;

iv. as to traceability of the above-mentioned operation, the website contains only generic references to "Peaktradeoption" and an email address is provided (info@peaktradeoption.com);

WHEREAS the activity carried out through the https://peaktradeoption.com website is to be considered as 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 said domain to open a trading account and place orders to buy and/or sell financial instruments;

WHEREAS the above described activity, carried out via the https://peaktradeoption.com website, is still ongoing and is aimed at Italian investors, given that said domain is also available in Italian and in relation to the initiatives promoted through the said website, reports have also been received of investment solicitation by cold calling Italian retail investors.

WHEREAS the transactions recorded on the https://peaktradeoption.com website 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, 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 carried out via the https://peaktradeoption.com website, 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 from the communication.

28 May 2025

THE CHAIRMAN
Paolo Savona