The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob), the government authority of Italy responsible for regulating the Italian securities market, has added five websites to its register of banned internet service providers of illegally promoting trading products in the nation. The market regulator has, therefore, warned Italian investors not to take any financial services from Crypto Solution Ltd, Agrico Holdings Limited, WirexInvest Invest Limited, Strat Ltd and Invest Area Ltd. Consob ordered the shutdown of the five new websites as they illegally provide financial services in Italy. The platforms are not registered with the commission to offer financial services to Italian investors.
Today’s blacklisted sites, featured in the warning, provide forex , CFDs, as well as for cryptocurrencies , either in the form of the underlying coins or their derivatives like CFDs. The blackouts are ongoing, and for technical reasons, it can take several days to take effect, the regulator stated. Consob advises Italian investors to exercise the greatest diligence in order to make informed investment choices and adopt common-sense behaviour that is important to safeguard their savings. In addition, investors are advised that before investing their funds into such internet service providers, they should check in advance to ascertain whether operators are authorized to provide financial services in the country. The watchdog reminds consumers to go to the Consob website in order to get important information that warns them against financially abusive initiatives.
Consob Is Making an Effort to Boost Consumer Protection
The development by Consob comes at a time when the Italian market regulator is continuing to accelerate its efforts to protect investors in the region through strict measures. The crackdown comes after the agency refined its process for identifying non-compliant firms in the region. Recently, Consob banned financial services offered by several CySEC-licensed brokers in the country. Moreover, the watchdog prevented Cyprus’ financial intermediaries from soliciting investors or continuing their current relations with Italian customers.
In July 2019, Consob was awarded legal powers (under the article 7-quarter, paragraph 4 of the Consolidated Law on Finance (TUF) to ban platforms of financial intermediaries it deems unregulated. This legislation allows the watchdog to order investment brokers and companies, operating in the nation from another EU member state, to stop their operations after informing the competent authority of the member state. So far, Consob has blocked a total of 602 online platforms involved in fraudulent financial intermediaries in the region.
