Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has announced that it has come to a settlement with CIF licensed XTrade Europe Ltd on a €200,000 fine under Cyprus’ Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing law.

XTrade Europe Ltd, which was previously known as both XFR Financial Ltd and O.C.M Online Capital Markets Ltd, operates the OffersFX retail forex brokerage brand, at websites offersfx.com and offersfx.eu. (The XTrade.com website and brand is owned by the same group, but is domiciled in Belize and operates as an offshore broker, not as part of the CySEC-licensed business).

The full text of the CySEC settlement notice follows:

5th June 2020

CYSEC Board Decision

Announcement date: 05.06.2020; Board decision date: 14.04.2020

Regarding: Xtrade Europe Limited

Legislation: Τhe Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law

Subject: Settlement €200.000

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission («CySEC») would like to note the following:

CySEC, under section 37(4) of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission Law of 2009, has the power to reach a settlement for any violation or possible violation, act or omission for which there is reasonable ground to believe that it took place in violation of the provisions of CySEC’s supervised legislation.

CySEC reached a settlement with the CIF Xtrade Europe Limited («the Company») for possible violations of The Prevention and Suppression of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Law (L. 188(Ι)/2007) and the Directive issued thereof, as these appeared on the onsite inspection taking place at the Company’s premises in June 2018.

More specifically, the settlement reached involved the assessment of the Company’s compliance with articles of L.188(I)/2007 and the Directive issued thereof as of June 2018, relating to the implementation of adequate and appropriate measures in performing customer due diligence, in assessing and obtaining information from customers on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship, the identification/recording/evaluation of the possible risks faced by the CIFs, the implementation of measures and procedures to manage and mitigate risks, the adequacy of the data/information held for customer’s identity and their economic profile, and the exercise of ongoing monitoring of customer’s accounts and transactions.

The settlement reached with the Company for the possible violations is for the amount of €200.000. The Company has paid the amount of €200.000.

It is noted that the amounts due to settlement agreements are calculated as revenue (income) of the Treasury of the Republic and not as an income for CySEC.