Regulators warn against offshore FX brokers OasisTrade, 500Investments and Trado Tek
Regulators in the UK and Sweden issued warnings today against a number of Retail FX brokerage brands which aren’t licensed in each of those jurisdictions.
The warnings, while separately made, seem to be connected in that the sites run by each of the brokers look fairly similar if not identical using identical language (e.g. “[broker-name] is a world-renowned financial services provider…..”).
Further research by FNG seems to indicate that these sites are controlled by and/or associated with a Dutch national named Floris Pieter Bartel, also known as Floris Pieter Bartel Waals. In the past he has been named in other regulator warnings regarding offshore broker sites such as CFDS100.com (also calling itself a “a world-renowned financial services provider”).
The “Whois” listing for one of the named brokers, OasisTrade.com, names Floris Pieter Bartel as the registrant for the site.
The sites named by the UK’s FCA are as mentioned OasisTrade at oasistrade.com, and 500 Investments at 500investments.com, also known as Cabsy Holdings Ltd. The FCA stated that both brokers are not authorised in the UK, and are targeting people in the UK.
The Swedish regulator Finansinspektionen (FI) Investor Alert warning was for a broker named Trado Tek at website tradotek.com, claiming to have offices at Canary Wharf in London.
FI stated that persons claiming to represent Trado Tek are offering Swedish investors to trade with securities. FI said it has investigated the matter and has not been able to determine that Trado Tek is a going concern. Trado Tek is neither authorised by FI to conduct securities business or other financial services in Sweden nor under FI’s supervision. FI has not received any notification of cross-border activities from other EEA countries. Trado Tek is also not authorised to provide financial services according to the supervisory authority of the country in which the company claims to be domiciled.