France’s AMF starts blocking websites illegally offering atypical investments
France’s financial markets authority AMF has made use of the powers granted to it under the PACTE law for the first time by securing Court orders for the blocking of access to several websites belonging to entities that illegally offer atypical investments.
The French regulator said today that, at its request, the Paris Civil Court has ordered the closure of six Internet addresses relating to three entities that were illegally offering investments in miscellaneous assets.
The addresses concerned are the following:
- www.ehcapital.fr and ehcapital.fr ;
- www.providenceinvestissement.com and providenceinvestissement.com ;
- www.financialpartners-ltd.com and financialpartners.com.
To ensure greater protection for retail investors, the AMF conducts due diligence on offers of investments in miscellaneous assets and warns the public against unauthorised sites and service providers. It can also take legal action to block access to illegal websites.
In recent years, many proposals of investments in tangible assets have emerged in areas as varied as photovoltaic panels, works of art, diamonds, forests, livestock, wine, champagne, whisky and more recently containers. These proposals highlight the possibility of a financial return or economic equivalent (in kind) not based on financial instruments, and are constantly evolving.
These “atypical” investments fall under the heading of intermediation in miscellaneous assets. Driven by the law and regulations, this regime has evolved in recent years. The AMF’s role and tools for fulfilling its mission to protect savings have been reinforced by the Sapin II and PACTE laws.
There can be no promotional marketing materials or direct marketing campaigns for miscellaneous assets without prior verification by the AMF and the registration of the investor information document. These offers are published in a white list on the AMF website. To date, only a limited number of offerings have been listed.
The AMF also publishes warnings to the general public and publishes a black list with the names of the websites or service providers who are not authorised to offer investments in miscellaneous assets, after adversarial proceedings. In 2020, the AMF added 78 addresses of websites to its lists, in particular in the fields of livestock, wine, champagne or whisky, and more recently containers.
The following are the sites that were added in the final quarter of 2020:
- alpha-connectcapital
- www.asse-groupe.com
- www. bearbull-patrimoine.com
- ideesfinances.com/campagne-containers-1
- patrimoine-ambition.com
- pfm.golden-malt.com/store
- privateclient.online
- sudfactoring.online
Since the creation, in 2017, of the first black list of websites or service providers not authorised to offer investments in miscellaneous assets, which identified websites that were illegally offering diamonds for investment, the AMF has added 324 unauthorised internet addresses to this list.