CySEC Chair: 24option Ban in France Due to Two Sentences Advertising Text

The Chairwoman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), Demetra Kalogerou has shared with Cypriot newspaper Cyprus Mail that the ban of 24option in France has been over a marketing message that is two sentences long. The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) has classified the advertising practices of the binary options brokerage as sufficient ground to ban the firm from operating on the French market.

The CySEC has been on numerous occasions issuing circulars to advise firms about marketing messages that are not in adherence with the rules and regulations. Back in January the Cypriot regulator has fined 24option €156,000, but the French authorities have decided to take their own penalizing measures.

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Kalogerou highlighted in her interview that the French ban of the binary options brokerage is the first case when a Cyprus-based company is denied access to any of the European markets. She told the Cyprus Mail, “This decision was made over two sentences of promotional text on the company’s French website, which were deemed misleading, plus a single complaint out of some 10,000 clients.”

CySEC Should Get Worried

We are not aware what is the number of complaints in France that are related to single brokerages, however according to the AMFOmbudsman service report from 2015 a total of 194 complaints were registered against companies that are regulated by CySEC. The chairwoman of the CySEC should be rather worried that 85 per cent of complaints registered with the AMF ombudsman are associated with Cypriot firms.

The message by French authorities has been very clear – and if the CySEC doesn’t do enough to strictly supervise its regulated entities other European markets could follow suit and eventually render the Cypriot license irrelevant.

CySEC is regulating 230 companies according to the interview. Mrs Kalogerou should rather focus on the effectiveness of the watchdog’s policing efforts. Calling Cyprus a “forex hub” is easy now, but this status can just as easily be dispelled as the license passporting rules for the European market are holding the key to this status.

Commenting on the matter, a CySEC spokesperson said, “Following the launch of the Supervisory Action Plan in mid-2015 into those forex and binary options trading firms identified as posing a high-to-medium risk to the investor, where material non-compliance has been found following close supervision and on-site inspection, over €2 million in fines and 11 license suspensions or outright withdrawals have been issued.”

“CySEC’s message to both firms and investors is clear: those regulated firms looking to cheat the law have no place in Cyprus,” the spokesperson elaborated.

With a number of other regulatory destinations such as Estonia and Bulgaria making ground in recent months, CySEC has to step up its game in order to maintain its status.

Mrs Kalogerou did conclude the interview with Cyprus Mail by elaborating on the forex and binary options industry’s regulatory status, “It’s a challenging field that requires a lot of monitoring and oversight.”

When Money Becomes Trouble: Some Thoughts on Funds Withdrawal

Withdrawal of funds from a binary option broker.

Trading in the binary market depends on many factors. At the same time the withdrawal of funds from a broker sometimes is not the most pleasant and protracted occupation. Net profit withdrawal is a process that each trader must pass, as he has not only to make money, but also to use it.

Withdrawal does not happen automatically with a positive position. A trader must submit a request for withdrawal. After the application processing a broker transfers money to your account.

Brokers do not always firm up withdrawals, and when trying to withdraw, the trader receives a message about the application rejection.

When choosing a broker, a great role plays the ability to withdraw money from the trading account. Let us say you have this situation: there is a debit card, and you want to transfer money to your account, but your broker does not accept the cards. Now you need to find another broker or to decide how to carry out the necessary transaction with the account. Thus, you should choose a certified reliable broker regulated by CySEC in order to protect your capital and withdraw it with no problem.

But everyone knows that in the binary options withdrawal has a quite small list of possible operations. Despite the fact, that over a hundred payment systems are available in the use, brokers work with only few of them. If you think it takes a couple of minutes to transfer $ 100 to your PayPal account, you are mistaken. Let it be known that just a couple of brokers allows you to withdraw money from binary options through PayPal. Electronic wallets such as Ukash, Click & Buy, Skrill, Click2Pay and Neteller in general are not available among the online brokers. But all the systems develop and everything will change in the near future.

Another important aspect, which is certainly worth attention when choosing a broker, is a commission for the withdrawal of funds, which is charged by the broker of binary options. Fortunately, this practice does not apply to all brokers, but some set the fee at $ 30 for the right to withdraw money from the account. Of course, this is the highest commission among brokers, but it is necessary once again to check the conditions of funds withdrawal, and only then to register.

Credit cards and bank transfers

The classic bank transfers are still considered as one of the most reliable ways to withdraw funds. Therefore, they are the most popular among traders. However, this method of payment has one disadvantage – the time of the transaction. Bank transfers cannot be compared to the transmission speed or work of e-wallets or credit cards. Keep this peculiarity in mind, because you may need to increase your trading capital quickly, or withdraw profits from the account.

Depositing and withdrawal of cash funds by electronic purses

Electronic purses are not burdened with such disadvantages as bank transfers, as we mentioned above. Funds may be available almost instantly.

Unfortunately, these payment systems are seldom found among those available for the transactions with the binary options brokers.

The broker acts as the main connecting face between the trader and market participants. And exactly on how conveniently the platform is organized and the functional is thought out, depends the success of work, as well as the efficiency of transactions.

Special attention deserves exactly the issue of money withdrawal. It is absolutely logical that a quick withdrawal is convenient for everyone. Because the delay of payments is the usual realities of offline business, everyone has to face with them. Naturally, this is very inconvenient. Making money today and getting a profit the next day is not as interesting as “here and now”.

FSMA warns of Invest-Option, CentralOption, PWRTrade, Proinvest, SC-Options binaries brokers

The Belgian regulator FSMA has updated its list of unauthorized binary options brokers with five more: Invest-Option, CentralOption, PWRTrade, Proinvest and SC-Options.

Invest-Option

According to the FSMA, Invest-Option, a brand owned by Broker Financial Ltd is offering very risky investment instruments in Belgium without complying with Belgian financial legislation – in this case, binary options brokers. The company has not published a prospectus approved by the FSMA, as is required for offering investment instruments to the public in Belgium. Furthermore, the regulator presumes Broker Financial is linked to Arian Financial and NG-Bank who are also offering binary options and against which the FSMA has already warned in April.

This is why the regulator strongly advises the public against responding to any investment offers made by Broker Financial and transferring any money to its accounts.

CentralOption

CentralOption is owned by Central Provider, claiming to have offices in London and Hong Kong. According to the FSMA, the company is not authorized to provide investment and banking services in Belgium, including binary options, which are deemed a very risky instrument. Hence, the FSMA advises the public to avoid investing with CentralOption and send it any money.

CentralOption is a binary options broker that is rather “popular” with the national regulators. Since the beginning of the year warnings against it were published by Hong Kong’s SFC, the Manitoba Securities Commission and the British Columbia Securities Commission.

PWRTrade

PWRTrade is the brand of GN Capital – a company with a business address on the Marshall Islands. According to the Belgian regulator, the company is not authorized to provide financial services in the country and is not complying with the Belgian financial legislation. Like with the other brokers, FSMA warns the Belgians against doing business with this binary options broker.

PWRTrade’s website has versions in English, German and Arabic. The broker offers an exclusive bonus of up to 100% bonus and promises “the world’s most secure platform”. According to a note at the bottom, PWRTrade’s payment service provider is GN Management is based in Bulgaria. There is no regulatory information.

Proinvest

Proinvest is a brand of Graham International Ltd / Binat Ltd. The company claims to be based in London but does not appear in the Financial Conduct Authority’s register of financial providers. It is not an authorized investment firm or credit institution in Belgium either and cannot offer trading in financial instruments, binary options included. That’s why the FSMA strongly advises against responding to offers made by the broker and transferring money to its accounts.

SC-Options

According to the FSMA, Sterling Consultancy Options Ltd, the owner of SC-Options, is a cloned firm. It has assumed the identity of a company with the same name – Sterling Consultancy Options Ltd., registered and authorized in the UK that has addresses in Glasgow and Hamilton.

The Belgian regulator notes that the clone has an address in London and different contact information. “Identity theft is typical of “cloned firm” fraud: fraudsters steal the identity of persons or firms that do in fact exist (such as a lawyer, an authorized company, etc.) in order to gain credibility or even legitimacy, and thus to convince investors,” the FSMA notes.

Source: https://smnweekly.com/2016/08/10/fsma-warns-invest-option-centraloption-pwrtrade-proinvest-sc-options-binaries-brokers/

Binary Options Affiliate Website Targeted by Danish Financial Watchdog

The Danish FSA has today added binary options affiliate website Den Danske Metode to its warning list.

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has issued a statement today informing the public that Den Danske Metode, a binary options affiliate website, has been soliciting its services to consumers without having permission to do so.

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The company’s address is unknown, but the website can be found at www.danishmethod.com. Here, Den Danske Metode can be found to be promoting a typical online affiliate scheme via a promotional video and hard-selling techniques, “guaranteeing” high profit levels to traders who sign up with their services and trade using their recommended trading strategies.

These type of schemes are notoriously associated with scams and have received more than their fair share of negative feedback online in recent years.

According to the FSA, Den Danske Metode is not allowed to offer services covered by the Financial Business Act in Denmark and has therefore been added to its warning list.

The FSA’s website (www.finanstilsynet.dk) includes a list of companies that are allowed to offer financial services in Denmark as well as a listing of warnings against companies so potential traders wishing to check the authenticity of a financial services provider can do so here.

Danish FSA Remit

The primary task of the Danish FSA is the supervision of financial undertakings including banks, mortgage-credit institutions and insurance companies. The most important supervisory activity is monitoring that undertakings have adequate own funds to cover their risks.

The Danish FSA also supervises the securities markets in Denmark, ensuring that listed companies comply with their obligations. It also monitors the markets with a view to intervening in market abuse, including insider dealing and price manipulation.

In addition to supervisory activities, the Danish FSA assists in drawing up financial legislation and issues executive orders for the financial area.

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ASIC warns against binary options broker TitanTrade

he Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) warned Australian investors not to click on any advertising of the TitanTrade binary options broker and not to sign up for binary options trading or other products or services offered on its site www.titantrade.com.

The reason is that the broker is not holding an Australian financial service (AFS) license and is not authorized by any AFS licensee, as required by local law. The ASIC is concerned, however, that TitanTrade is nevertheless offering financial services both on its website and via its webinars and is misleading the Australian public.

This is why on July 26 the ASIC has taken action in the court to restrain the operators of the website (Titan Trade Solutions Ltd.) from carrying out financial services without a license. The court has banned both the operator and persons and entities who may have received funds from the website to issue financial products, including binary options trading, advertising its products and operating the site in Australia. The court order is valid until November 16, 2016, while ASIC continues its investigation of the site and persons and entities, including Allianz Metro Pty Ltd, who appear to have received payments from it.

“Unless an Australian license has been obtained by the operators of the Website, the Australian public should avoid signing up for any of the financial services listed on the Website,” the ASIC notes and adds the potential investors are likely to suffer detriment as a result of being misled.

According to its website, TitanTrade is based in London, but is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

This is not the first warning against the broker. In April Italy’s financial watchdog CONSOB warned that it is not licensed to provide financial services in the country.

Court Orders Two Web-Based Firms to Pay US $4.6 Million in Sanctions for Binary Options Trading Fraud

USA August 7 2016

A federal court entered a default judgment against Vault Options Ltd and Global Trader 365, Israeli-based web companies, in connection with charges brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that, from at least October 2012 to the present time, they entered into binary commodity option transactions with retail clients when they were not appropriately registered with the CFTC. The CFTC also charged that the defendants defrauded customers. The court ordered restitution to customers in excess of $1.5 million and a fine of US $3 million.

Australia regulator ASIC WARNS AGAINST USE OF BINARY OPTION PROVIDER

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is warning the public not to click on advertisements from ‘Titantrade', a website which is offering binary trading options, as it is likely to mislead investors.

Titantrade was not licensed to provide financial services in Australia and the public should avoid using their website (www.titantrade.com) or signing up for binary options trading, or their other products and services.
ASIC said unless the operators of the website obtained an Australian license, Australians should avoid it.
Binary options were types of options that tried to predict short-term movements in a share price, currency, index or commodity. They were speculative and high risk.
Any entity that dealt in or provided advice about binary options to Australian investors had to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) license, or be authorised by an AFS licensee.
On 26 July, ASIC took action in the Federal Court of Australia that restrained the operators of the website from providing financial services, while they were unlicensed.
The court prohibited the operators of the website (and other people and related entities that received funds from the site) from issuing financial products, including binary options trading.
The court also prohibited them from advertising and promoting their products and from running the site in Australia.
Court orders were extended until 16 November. ASIC was continuing its investigations into the website and its related entities, which included Allianz Metro Pty Ltd, which allegedly received payments from the website.