Consob Orders Blackout of 5 FX Websites

Italian investors have been warned not to take out any financial services from SMART FX. They also warned against Warp Enterprise Ltd, Pro Consulting Invest, Gntfin LTD, and Global Finance FX.

Italy’s financial regulator, Consob, has added these websites to its register of banned internet sources. That’s for illegally promoting trading products in the country.

Monday’s announcement is the latest in the CONSOB’s series of warnings about unregulated firms posing ‎as legitimate. They pose as approved businesses, to con Italian consumers into making payments for ‎investment services.‎

The number of sites blacked out since July 2019 has thus risen to 223. It was when the regulator got the power to ban the websites of financial intermediaries it deems fraudulent.

Today’s blacklisted sites offer forex and CFDs trading. But the CONSOB says some of the names featured in the warning are dealing in crypto assets. That is either in the form of the underlying coins or its related derivatives such as CFDs.

Consob’s Orders to Cease Operations

The crackdown began after Consob refined its process for identifying non-compliant companies. In December 2019, the regulator went after two CySEC-licensed Forex & CFD brokers. It ordered them to cease operations in the country.

24Option and Hoch Capital Ltd were disallowed from providing investment services in Italy. Consob’s decision also prevents Cypriot intermediaries from soliciting customers or continuing its current relations with Italian clients.

The regulator made its decision at that time under the article 7-quarter, paragraph 4 of the Consolidated Law on Finance. It was also under article 86 of Mifid2.

This legislation allows the regulator to order investment firms and brokers operating in the country from another EU member state. This is through the EU passporting regime, to cease their operations after informing the competent authority of the member state.

Other European financial regulators have listed some of these brokers as trading scams. This is why CONSOB advises Italian investors to check their registers before they deposit any funds with a broker. This is especially if the related broker used aggressive marketing techniques.