Italy Watchdog Now Obstructs Access to 124 Online Brokers

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 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-licensed 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 & 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.