Category: Regulation

The Austrian regulator FMA (Financial Market Authority) has issued a warning against Forex and CFD broker CFDs100. The brokerage firm was offering financial products and services to Austrian residents without being authorized in the country.

The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) is an independent, autonomous and integrated authority for the Austrian financial market. The Austrian FMA is responsible for: contributing to the stability of Austria as a financial market; reinforcing confidence in the ability of the Austrian financial market to function; protecting investors, creditors and consumers.

According to the website, CFDs100 is a world-renowned financial services provider offering a range of investment products, including CFDs (contracts for difference), FX and Cryptocurrencies. The company is owned and operated by CCLR Solutions Limited and claims to be located in Tallinn, Estonia. However, the company is not licensed to provide its services in the country and it is proved with a warning from Estonian regulator Financial Supervision Authority.

In fact, there is actually a big chance that CFDs100 is just another offshore scam company, as we have found mentions of the Vanuatu jurisdiction in the terms and conditions from the website. Vanuatu is a popular offshore zone for the forex brokers as they can be easily incorporated under the countries law.

If you still have plans to invest with CFDs100, check the reviews online. Most of thoe reviews are negative, where people complain about withdrawal issues and losing huge amounts of money with this broker.

When choosing a new Forex broker, it is very important to verify that they are in fact licensed for investors from your country of residence. Trading with a licensed broker ensures you will not have issues withdrawing your investment. The most trustworthy brokers are those registered with such regulators as FCA in United Kingdom and ASIC in Australia. You can read our review on this broker here.

Italy’s financial markets and services provider regulator CONSOB (Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa) has updated its list of forex brokers who are not licensed to operate in Italy with one new addition – FXBreeze. The broker was banned for the provision of unauthorised investment services and activities to the Italian public.

Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB; Italian Companies and Exchange Commission) is the government authority of Italy responsible for regulating the Italian securities market. This includes the regulation of the Italian stock exchange, the Borsa Italiana.

FXBreeze is broker that offers trading in forex and wide range of CFDs on a web-based trading platform. The broker doesn't disclose the name of the company behind the brand name. According to the website, FXBreeze is located in Estonia, however, the contact number is British. Also, the terms and conditions state that all the proceedings are conducted in London, UK. The UK's regulator FCA doesn't have this broker in its register, so we suppose th ecompany is not authorized in the UK or any of the EU countries, which is already a valid reason to avoid trading with FXBreeze.
In addition, we have come upon a warning issued by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority. According to the warning, the brokerage is providing financial services illegally without a proper license.
When engaging with brokers that do not operate on the grounds of a valid license, issued from a trustworthy authority, traders are putting their investments at higher risk. It is better to avoid dealing with offshore brokerages and choose properly regulated and reliable brokers. A good example of such are the ones supervised by the FCA or ASIC. You can read our review on this broker here.

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority added another Forex broker to its warning list. According to the regulator, PTBanc has been offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the UK without its authorization.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the financial markets in the United Kingdom. You can read a detailed article about why traders should choose UK brokers.

PTBanc is a broker that offers to trade in many currency pairs and a wide range of CFDs, including on cryptocurrencies. The broker doesn't disclose any information about its location as well as its regulation, which has to be the first red flag for those who want to invest with PTBanc. There are different contact phone numbers mentioned on the website (British, Spanish, Italian and German), however, the broker does not claim to be regulated by any governmental agency and it obviously isn’t.

The terms and conditions of the website claim that PTBanc is registered offshore, in the Marshall Islands. This is a jurisdiction where Forex license is not required. Moreover, local authority doesn’t issue forex licenses, which mean that the broker is most probably a fraud.

Moreover, the broker has been banned by two other regulators, Italian CONSOB and Luxemburg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), that only proves PTBanc should be avoided by any means. Without proper authorization, there is no way for regulators to protect investors from fraudulent activity, due to a lack of monitoring by any governing body to ensure that proper practices are being adhered to by the companies. You can read our review on this broker here.

The financial markets and services providers regulator of Switzerland – FINMA – has warned of unregulated offshore forex broker - Xmarkets.
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is the Swiss government body responsible for financial regulation. This includes the supervision of banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges and securities dealers, as well as other financial intermediaries in Switzerland. FINMA keeps a close eye on the unregulated brokers and usually warns in a timely manner of those who make false claims of Swiss regulation or location but are not Swiss-regulated.

Xmarkets operates through the website www.xmarkets.com and offers forex trading. The company is owned and operated by Celestial Trading Ltd, Seychelles-based entity. The broker also uses the service of the UK-based payment provider Celtic Pay Ltd. As to the Celestial Trading Ltd, offshore registration usually doesn’t guarantee the safety of funds and clients’ protection, especially in the Seychelles, where local authority doesn’t regulate forex businesses. In addition, Xmarkets have also been blacklisted by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
There are many negative reviews about the broker can be found online. People tell about the unacceptable experience they had with Xmarkets, pointing out the fraudulent activities of the company with tricking and taking client's money without giving a possibility to withdraw it later.
When engaging with brokers that do not operate on the grounds of a valid license, issued from a trustworthy authority, traders are putting their investments at higher risk. It is better to avoid dealing with offshore brokerages and choose properly regulated and reliable brokers. A good example of such are the ones supervised by the FCA or FINMA. You can read our review on this broker here.

The financial markets and services providers regulator of Switzerland – FINMA – has warned of unregulated forex broker – 69Brokers.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is the Swiss government body responsible for financial regulation. This includes the supervision of banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges and securities dealers, as well as other financial intermediaries in Switzerland. FINMA keeps a close eye on the unregulated brokers and usually warns in a timely manner of those who make false claims of Swiss regulation or location but are not Swiss-regulated.

According to the broker's website, 69Brokers.com is a global software company which develops and successfully operates a leading online trading platform. The company provides trading with Forex, Indices, Commodities, Shares and Crypto. 69Brokers doesn't disclose the company behind the brand's name. It claims to have offices in Birmingham, UK and Zurich, Switzerland. They also provide a regulative registration number: 248/16, that probably should mean the company is regulated by Swiss FINMA, however, this information is false and the broker is not authorized to provide its financial services in Switzerland or any other country.

The negative comments about the 69Brokers on the net also reveal that those who invested are having hard times with withdrawing their money, while the company representatives are cold calling them promising high returns.

When engaging with brokers that do not operate on the grounds of a valid license, issued from a trustworthy authority, traders are putting their investments at higher risk. It is better to avoid dealing with unregulated and choose properly regulated and reliable brokers. A good example of such are the ones supervised by the FCA or FINMA. You can read our review on this broker here.

Spain’s financial markets regulator, CNMV, has warned of Forex broker KayaFX. According to the official notice on CNMV’s website, this entity is not registered in the corresponding registry of the commission and, therefore, are not authorized to provide investment services.

The National Securities Market Commission (often abbreviated as CNMV) is the Spanish government agency responsible for the financial regulation of the securities markets in Spain. It is an independent agency that falls under the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. The regulator maintains a register with investment companies that are authorized to operate in Spain.

KayaFX is an offshore Forex and CFD broker. The company is owned and operated by AlphaTec LTD, Leeds, England. According to the terms and conditions, there is also another company behind the brand's name, Hermes Solution DOO, based in Montenegro and responsible for the clearing and billing services. However, none of the mentioned companies aren't regulated to provide financial services.

The broker has previously been blacklisted by the UK's regulator Financial Conduct Authority for targeting UK residents without being authorized in the country.

We have also found a lot of negative reviews from the traders. Some of them cannot withdraw their funds and profits, others haven’t heard from broker since their first deposit. It seems that KayaFX is just one more unregulated company trying to deceive customers.

Generally, we always advise traders to avoid dealing with unregulated forex brokers, as most of them are involved in investment scams. There are a number of properly licensed brokers to choose from, like the ones regulated by the FCA or the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. You can read our review on this broker here.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission informs the clients of AFX Capital Markets Ltd of the investigation against AFX and the procedure for the submission of complaints against AFX. The company operates brokers under the trading names STO, ICEFX UK and Quantic Prime. All these websites are currently not accessible. 

We have previously informed our readers that CySEC has suspended the CIF license of AFX Capital Markets Ltd. Also, after ceasing all broker's trading activities, the Financial Conduct Authority has put AFX Markets into administration. 

As per the announcement dated 19.07.2019, CySEC has decided to completely suspend AFX’s authorisation, as there are suspicions of an alleged violation to the AFX’s possible non-compliance with the authorisation condition, regarding the protection of the clients’ funds. CySEC is currently conducting an investigation of the above alleged violation, which is expected to be completed in due time. 

The procedure for the submission of a complaint against a Cyprus Investment Firm is available on CySEC’s website. A Unique Reference Number is usually required in order to file a complaint with the FO, which AFX is unable to provide. CySEC and the FO office have established an exemption to the normal procedure to ensure that clients of AFX are able to submit their complaints without a URN. 

Further to the above, CySEC urges the clients of AFX to remain updated on the status of AFX and any developments, by frequently monitoring CySEC’s website. 

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, better known as CySEC, is the financial regulatory agency of Cyprus. It supervises and controls the operation of the Cyprus Stock Exchange, grants operation licenses to investment firms, including investment consultants, brokerage firms, and brokers, impose administrative sanctions and disciplinary penalties. You can read the detailed article about the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission here.

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Check out CySEC regulated brokers) has announced the suspension of the authorization of the Cyprus Investment Firm MPS Marketplace Securities Ltd in whole. The company has previously been known as SpotOption Exchange Ltd and S.O. Spotoption Ltd.

According to the official notice, the above decision was reached as the aforementioned alleged violation may cause concern and risk relating to the protection of the company’s clients and constitute a threat to the orderly operation and integrity of the market.

MPS Marketplace Securities was given 15 days to take actions in order to comply with the aforementioned provisions. 

During this suspension period the company is not permitted to provide/carry out investment services/activities as well as enter into any business transaction with any person and accept any new client. It is also not allowed to advertise itself as a provider of investment services.

Also, the company, provided this is consistent with the wishes of its existing clients, may proceed with the following actions: complete all its own transactions and those of its clients which are before it, in accordance with client instructions and return all funds and financial instruments which are attributable to its clients.

Spain’s financial markets regulator, CNMV, has warned of Forex broker UproFx. According to the official notice on CNMV’s website, this entity is not registered in the corresponding registry of the commission and, therefore, are not authorized to provide investment services.

The National Securities Market Commission (often abbreviated as CNMV) is the Spanish government agency responsible for the financial regulation of the securities markets in Spain. It is an independent agency that falls under the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness.

UproFX is a Forex and CFDs brokerage. According to the website, UproFx is owned by Yield Enterprise Currency Software OÜ (company number: 14484668), Tallinn, Estonia and operated from Riga, Latvia. The government of Estonia allows forex trading within the country for those brokers authorized by the local regulator Financial Supervision Authority. However, we didn't find any mention of UproFX or  Yield Enterprise Currency Software OÜ in regulator's register.

To add up, we have found numerous negative reviews from UproFX customers on the net. People state that they cannot get their money back and the company refuses to provide any kind of help.

When choosing a new Forex broker, it is very important to verify that they are in fact licensed for investors from your country of residence. Trading with a licensed broker ensures you will not have issues withdrawing your investment. The most trustworthy brokers are those registered with such regulators as FCA in the United Kingdom and ASIC in Australia. You can read our review on this broker here.