CONSOB Blocks Access to 7 Off-Shore Brokers

The Italian securities market regulator, locally known as the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), announced on Friday that it ordered the black-out of seven websites, who were illegally offering financial services in the country.

The seven blacklisted websites are:

• DirectaFx Limited (www.directafx.com);
• Gntfin LTD (www.gnt-fin.com);
• Maxi Services Ltd (www.maximarkets.org);
• Platiniumfund Ltd (www.platinium-fund.com);
• Digital Exchange Limited and Securex Plus Solutions EOOD (www.dgxltd.io);
• ProConsultingInvest (www.proconsultinginvest.co);
• Tfx25 (www.tfx25.co.uk).

All of these websites are offering trading services with multiple assets including Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term, equities, and commodities.

With this recent addition, the CONSOB is restricting access to 268 platforms in total, all for offering suspicious financial products or services in Italy. Earlier this month, the regulator flagged five more websites and imposed similar restrictions.

The securities regulator was authorised the power to black-out websites in July 2019 under the so-called “Growth Decree” law that extended its crack-down on unregistered organisations.

“The activities for the blackout of the said websites by the Internet connectivity providers operating on the Italian territory are in progress,” the regulatory notice detailed continuing with, “For technical reasons, it can take a few days for making them effective.”

Increasing scams alerted the regulators

Meanwhile, there is also an increase in financial scams all around the world, especially because of the fears and opportunities instigated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CONSOB is among the most vigilant regulators in Europe when it comes to flagging leveraged offshore brokers. The watchdog also put a blanket ban on 24Option and Hoch Capital Ltd, before they were flagged by the FCA and CySEC CySEC The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) is a financial regulatory authority of Cyprus. CySEC is one of the key watchdog authorities for brokerages in Europe, whose financial regulations and operations comply with the European MiFID financial harmonization law.Founded in 2001, CySEC is instrumental in providing licensing and registration for forex brokers and previously binary options providers.CySEC is responsible for a variety of different functions, which includes the supervision Read this Term. Both these brokers renounced their CIF authorization licenses earlier this month, Finance Magnates reported.