After taking away the passporting rights of four Cyprus-based, CySEC-licensed Retail FX and CFD brokers just two weeks ago, UK financial regulator The FCA has extended the list, adding three more brokers which are now unable to market their services to UK traders.

While the original four brokers which were banned at the beginning of June – Hoch Capital Ltd (trading as iTrader and tradeATF), Magnum FX (Cyprus) Ltd (trading as ET Finance), Rodeler Ltd (trading as 24option), and F1Markets Ltd (trading as Investous, StrattonMarkets and Europrime) – were also soon-after banned by most other EU regulators, it remains unclear whether this is a UK-only move, or if other continental European regulators will follow suit (or not). However in this release the FCA noted that its action came after “these three CFD providers had decided to cease to provide any investment services in the UK”.

The three brokers now unable to market their services to UK traders:

• Maxiflex Ltd (trading as EuropeFX),
• Maxigrid Limited (trading as Dualix & AGM Markets), and
• Reliantco Investments Ltd (trading as UFX).

CySEC, for its part, has not made any official statement as of yet about the brokers or the FCA’s move. However we expect the Cypriot regulator to issue something shortly.

The FCA stated it had removed these firms’ permission to sell contracts for difference (CFDs) to UK consumers. The FCA stated that UK consumers should be aware that these Cyprus registered firms no longer hold relevant permissions to conduct regulated activities with UK consumers. This follows FCA receipt of notifications from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) about the provision of investment services by these firms, which operate under CySEC authorisation and have previously marketed into the UK utilising the EEA passport regime.

The CySEC notifications confirmed that these three CFD providers had decided to cease to provide any investment services in the UK.

The regulator stated that these firms are no longer permitted to open new accounts for consumers in the United Kingdom. Existing UK account holders with open positions and/or cash balances should review notifications provided on the respective firms’ websites and/or firm communications to UK clients sent by email or available at account log-in. The FCA said that the firms should clearly set out the process and timelines for their ongoing interactions with their existing UK-based customers.