Italy’s financial markets and services provider regulator CONSOB has updated its warning list with the brokers who are not licensed to operate in Italy. Richmondfx and Globalfx happened to get into the list. These firms have been offering investment services and activities to the Italian public without being authorized in the country.

Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB; Italian Companies and Exchange Commission) is the Italian governmental authority responsible for regulating the Italian securities market. The regulator is also responsible for the Italian stock exchange, the Borsa Italiana.

Are these brokers legit?

Richmondfx is a broker that offers Forex, precious metals, commodities, CFDs and Futures trading. The company is owned and operated by Elit Property Vision LTD and claims to be fully licensed and regulated. According to the website, the broker has offices in the UK, Switzerland and Singapore, however, it is not regulated in any of these countries.

Moreover, The owner company Elit Property Vision LTD also owns other brokerages, such as previously reviewed CFD Royal, CarterFS and RichmondFG.. These companies have been blacklisted multiple times by different regulators, and this fact definitely doesn’t put a lot of trust to Richmondfx.

Globalfx is a Forex broker, operated by Globalfx LTD. The website's interface is literally identical to the one in Richmondfx. All the website section and the content are the same, so it is just one more proof that both brokers are probably involved in scam and should be avoided. 

Investing with a properly regulated broker is crucial for the safety of any investment. You can choose among Swiss brokers regulated by FINMA or those authorized in the UK by its FCA.

Also, you can share your trading experience with Richmondfx and Globalfx by commenting on this post.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued warnings against Finroyalty and Zurichbanc. The regulator said the brokers have been providing financial services and products targeting people in the UK without being licensed.

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.

Finroyalty is a Forex broker, owned and operated by Pro Star, based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The broker doesn't provide any information about its regulation as well as location. There is only a British contact number mentioned on the website, but Finroyalty is obviously not regulated in the UK, moreover, it is banned there. 

In addition, the Pro Star company itself has a quite bad reputation. We have reviewed some brokers operated by Pro Star (including Traderia and GoldenCFD) and we do not recommend dealing with either of them. 

ZurichBanc is a financial services provider, offering currency pairs, stocks, commodities and indices trading. The company is owned and operated by Ankor Group Investment Ltd., registered in Bulgaria. However, the broker is not regulated in Bulgaria or any other country. 

According to the FCA's official notice, ZurichBanc has been using the details of the FCA-regulated entity Zurich Investment Services (UK) Limited, and is considered to be a clone-firm, therefore should be avoided. 

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. 

You can also share your trading experience with Finroyalty and Zurichbanc by commenting on this post.

The Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand (FMA) has issued a warning against CF Group, an unauthorized company offering Forex and CFD trading. The regulator states that the company claims to be associated with a New Zealand registered financial service provider without being regulated in the country.
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) plays a critical role in regulating capital markets and financial services in New Zealand. It is the New Zealand government agency responsible for enforcing securities, financial reporting, and company law as they apply to financial services and securities markets.

CF Group operates through the website www.forexcf.com and offers Forex and CFDs trading. The broker has two subsidiaries: CF GLOBAL UK LIMITED and CF GROUP LIMITED. According to the website, CF GLOBAL UK LIMITED is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, while CF GROUP LIMITED is registered as a Financial Service Provider in New Zealand. There is a record about CF GLOBAL UK LIMITED in the FCA register, although it is said that the company is no longer regulated there, so the information on the broker's website is false.
As to the second company, CF GROUP LIMITED, it is the actual reason of the FMA's warning. The company is present in the regulator's register, however, it has nothing to do with the CF Group broker. It is clear that all the regulatory information provided on the website is nothing but a lie used to get client's trust.
In addition, the broker doesn't provide its address and only gives out the contact phone number (the British one). The website supports two languages: English and Vietnamese, which usually points to the counties that have been targeted.
It is recommended to avoid dealing with unregulated brokers, especially, when they provide false regulation information on their websites. There are a lot of properly licensed brokers, like the ones by FCA or the Australian Securities and Investment Commission to choose from.
You can read our review on this broker here.