Like every Monday, the Italian regulator Consob today announced the blackout of five new websites of illegally operating providers of financial services. This makes the Italian financial market supervisory authority the only EU regulator to take this effective measure. For consumer protection in the EU, it would be desirable if more member states would create a legal basis for blocking illegal or fraudulent websites. Forza Italia!
The commission availed itself of the new powers resulting from the “Decreto Crescita” (“Growth Decree”; Law no. 58 of 28 June 2019, article 36, paragraph 2-terdecies), on the basis of which Consob can order internet service providers to block access from Italy to websites offering financial services without the proper authorization.
Below are the sites Consob has ordered to be blacked out:
- Italiano Invest with website www.italianoinvest.net;
- EZ2GO Ltd with website www.capitalfx.co (see our report)
- Ozava Partners Ltd with website https://goldmanbanc.com;
- Pro Star with website www.ictrades.co;
- New Traders Holdings with website www.newtradersholdings-fx.com.
The number of sites blacked out since July 2019, when Consob got the power to order that the websites of fraudulent financial intermediaries be blacked out, has thus risen to 431.
