FX week in review: FCA crackdown, CySEC fines and suspensions, Formax and Citypoint rebrand
The past week was once of the busiest Forex Industry News periods of the year, with a mix of regulator actions, broker fines and suspensions, broker results, broker rebrands, and senior executive moves.
What marketing / retention activity does the FCA plan to ban, as part of an overhaul of the advertising of risky products to retail investors?
What changes has Cyprus regulator CySEC agreed to make, following recommendations made by ESMA to improve the effectiveness of CySEC?
Which Retail FX brokers were fined, and which saw their licenses suspended?
How did FCA regulated brokers Formax Prime and Citypoint Trading each rebrand, each under new ownership?
Which well-known FX industry names saw the departures of their respective COOs?
Answers to these questions, and a whole lot more, appeared first or exclusively this past week at FNG. Some of the most read and commented-on FX industry news stories to appear over the past seven days on FNG included:
FCA to ban refer-a-friend bonuses in clampdown on financial marketing. The UK’s financial markets regulator the FCA has announced that it has finalised stronger rules to help tackle misleading adverts that encourage investing in high-risk products. Under the stronger rules, firms approving and issuing marketing must have appropriate expertise, and firms marketing some types of high-risk investments will need to conduct better checks to ensure consumers and their investments are well matched.
CySEC agrees to beef up supervision as per ESMA recommendations. Pan European financial regulator oversight body The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced that Cyprus regulator CySEC has provided ESMA with a plan to implement a series of recommendations made back in March by ESMA. CySEC – which oversees more Retail FX and CFD brokers than any other regulator worldwide – also included a timeline for the gradual recruitment of resources and the interim solution identified, and periodic statistics on some indicators identified in the recommendations.
CySEC hands out €300,000 in Retail FX broker fines, to F1Markets and MagnumFX. 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.
CySEC suspends CIF license of 1Market operator Exelcius Prime. The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has announced that the authorisation of Cyprus Investment Firm Exelcius Prime Ltd, number 366/18, is suspended in whole, pursuant to section 10(1) of Directive DI87-05 for The Withdrawal and Suspension of Authorisation (‘the DI87-05’). Exelcius Prime operates the Retail FX and CFD brokerage brand 1Market, at website 1market.eu.
Alvexo operator VPR Safe Financial has license partially suspended by CySEC. In a continued crackdown on the Retail FX and CFDs brokerage sector, Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has announced that the operating license of the Cyprus Investment Services Company VPR Safe Financial Group Limited, CIF number 236/14, has been partially suspended. VPR Safe Financial Group Limited operates the Alvexo online trading brand, at websites alvexo.eu, alvexo.fr, and alvexo.de.
Exclusive: Formax Prime relaunching as 4T Markets under new ownership. FNG Exclusive… FNG has learned that FCA licensed MT4/MT5 broker Formax Prime has been acquired and rebranded as 4T Markets. The broker’s new url is 4t.co.uk, with a sister offshore entity in Seychelles operating website 4t.com. The company was sold last year to UK based businessman Waqas Mahmood, via his holding company Regalis Trading Solutions Limited.
Top FX industry executive moves reported at FNG this week included:
❑ Exclusive: Your Bourse COO Kate Rutkovskaya steps down.
❑ Exclusive: Rebranded CPT Markets hires GO Markets MENA exec Sherif Sanad, Mike Greenhalgh.
❑ Exclusive: Saxo Bank UK COO Peter Morris resigns.
❑ Exclusive: Pepperstone hires GO Markets exec Tom Williams to head Risk and Analytics.
❑ FlowBank promotes COO, CMO to expand Executive Committee.
❑ Exclusive: BDSwiss hires FXPRIMUS exec Martha Leventi as Bus Dev Manager.
❑ Exclusive: ATFX hires Edgewater exec Telmo Simoes for LatAm Institutional Sales.