Number of illegal trading websites blocked by Italy’s Consob rises to 88
The Italian regulator continues to make use of its new powers granted to it under the so-called “Growth Decree”.
Italy’s Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) today announces that it has ordered the blocking of access to five unauthorized websites for online trading.
The websites belong to entities that are not authorized to offer financial services in Italy but continue to solicit investments from Italian customers. The five websites are:
- Redal Ltd, Elit Property Vision Ltd e Richmondfx Ltd (https://richmondfx.com);
- Globalfx Ltd (https://globalfx.org);
- Rmt 500 Ltd (https://rmt500.com);
- Premium Solutions Ltd (https://thepremiumbrokers.com);
- Aj Asset Management (www.ajassetmanagement.com).
As a result, the total number of websites which have been blocked by Consob since last July has risen to 88. The actions for the blocking of the websites by Internet service providers, operating on the Italian market, are underway. Due to technical reasons it can take several days for the blocking to be implemented.
Consob has once again made use of the powers resulting from the ‘Decreto Crescita’ (‘Growth Decree’, Law no. 58 of June 28, 2019, article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order Internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorization.
Until 2017, the Italian regulator was publishing “warnings” concerning the risks connected with the services offered by unauthorized operators, which were only addressed to the general public. Since 2018, however, with the application of the new European regulation on the provision of investment services (Mifid2), the instruments given to Consob have been significantly enforced by the attribution of the new power to order the termination of the infringement to the unauthorized operators. Accordingly, Consob had only the power of asking the cancellation of the Italian version of the abusive sites to the host providers.
Thanks to the “growth decree”, CONSOB gains a new power – to order ISPs the blocking of the websites.
