Consob, the Italian securities regulator, ordered the country’s internet access providers (ISPs) to obstruct Italian investors' access to seven online brokers, bringing the total number of backlisted entities to 124. These websites were found offering financial services without due authorization or proper permissions to do so, it reads in a statement.
Due to technical reasons, it can take several days for the black-out to come into effect when these websites shut for a temporary period.
Consob has ordered in particular the black-out of the following websites:
- Ace Capital Ltd (www.ftefxpro.com);
- Ks-securities (www.ks-securities.com);
- "Local Trader" (www.localtrader.app/?lp=10, www.libramarkets.com);
- RMT 500 Ltd ( www.rtm500.com);
- Tradepoint Systems Ltd (www.atlantika.io);
- RL Ltd (www.royaltd24.com).
The Commissione Nazionale per la Società e la Borsa (Consob) said the flagged firms were found engaging in “unlawful” and “misleading” marketing practices with regard to the promotion of FX and other retail products.
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CONSOB has been amongst the most vigilant and strict regulators in Europe when it comes to dealing with leveraged trading. Recently, it has put a blanket ban in place against activities of 24Option and Hoch Capital Ltd, two CySEC -licensed Forex & CFD brokers.
The financial watchdog clarified that it made the latest decision under the “Decreto Crescita,’ which allows CONSOB to order internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to such websites in Italy.
“Consob warns all the investors about the relevance of making their individual investment choices in a cautious and well informed way, adopting common sense precautions, such as verifying in advance that the operators identified for investment have the required authorizations. To this end, Consob reminds to all investors to look at the section 'Be aware of fraud!' on the homepage of the www.consob.it website,” the regulator added.
Earlier in June, the watchdog decided to follow in the footsteps of ESMA, banning the sale of binary options to retail customers and also extended its restriction against promoting the contracts for difference (CFDs) to non-professional investors.
The CONSOB warning list also features the names of businesses that are dealing in crypto assets, either in the form of the underlying coins or its related derivatives such as CFDs.
