Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has continued its crackdown on the Retail FX and CFDs brokerage sector, handing out a pair of €150,000 fines in settlements with F1 Markets Ltd and Magnum FX (Cyprus) Ltd., via settlements with both companies.

Since the activity which engendered the fines, both F1 Markets Ltd and Magnum FX (Cyprus) Ltd. have chosen to renounce their CySEC CIF licenses, although the renunciation process has not yet been finalized for either company.

Regarding F1 Markets Ltd, CySEC stated that a settlement has been reached with the company for possible violations of The Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 and Directive DI144-2014-14 of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission for the prudential supervision of investment firms. More specifically, the settlement reached, involved assessing the company’s compliance after evaluation of findings as well as from assessment of compliance of the measures taken from the company for the fulfillment of the conditions of its partial suspension as well as other corrective measures taken by the company for the period June 2019 until July 2020, with regard to:

1. Article 5(1) of the Law regarding the requirement for CIF authorisation.

2. Article 22(1) of the Law as to the authorisation condition of article 17(2) of the Law, as specified in Article 22 of the Regulation 2017/565, and of article 17(5)(a) of the Law, regarding the organisational requirements with which a CIF is required to comply.

3. Article 24 of the Law regarding conflicts of interest.

4. Paragraph 21(f) of the Directive, regarding the variable elements of remuneration.

5. Article 25(3) of the Law regarding the general principles and information to clients.

The settlement reached with the company, for the possible violations, is for the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand Euros (€150,000), which the company has already paid.

And in the case of Magnum FX (Cyprus) Ltd, a settlement has been reached with the company for possible violations of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 and the Directive DI144-2014-14 of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission for the prudential supervision of investment firms. More specifically, the investigation for which the settlement was reached, following information collected from an onsite inspection in the company in January 2020 and onwards, concerning, the period between January 2019 until July 2020, with regard to the company’s compliance with:

1. Article 5(1) of the Law regarding the requirement for CIF authorization.

2. Article 22 (1) of the Law, since it does not seem to comply at all times with the conditions set out in Chapter I for the granting of an operating license and specifically with articles 17(2) and 17(9) of the Law.

3. Article 24 of the Law regarding conflicts of interest.

4. Articles 25(1) and 25(3) of the Law regarding the general principles and information addressed to clients.

5. Paragraph 21(g) of the Directive regarding the variable elements of remuneration.

The settlement reached with the company, for the possible violations, is for the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand Euros (€150,000), which the company has already paid.