Russian self-regulatory organization Centre for regulation in OTC Financial Instruments and Technologies (CRFIN) said on Thursday it has not issued a membership certificate to UK-based forex and binary options broker One Financial Brokers Ltd, disputing the broker’s claims it owns a CRFIN certificate for group A forex companies.
The broker has posted a copy of a CRFIN certificate of membership on its website with CRFIN’s stamp on it, but the organization said the certificate is fake and it has never issued such a certificate to the entity.
The certificate, which was published in English, shows it was supposedly issued in 2007. 
One Financial Brokers calls itself “the market leader in Europe in the online trade in Binary Option”. It says it is based in the UK and offers trading binary options on stocks, commodities, currency pairs and indices, including to Russian-speaking clients. The broker’s website contains no data regarding authorization and licensing.
Forex brokers are not required to have a Russian license in order to operate in the country. The country is trying to change this and has adopted a new regulation, which require forex brokers to obtain a license from the relevant authorities in the country in order to continue providing their services to local citizens after 1 January, 2016. In addition, they will be required to join a self-regulatory organization, consisting of at least 10 participants. The new regulation, however, has not been accepted well by market participants, who claim the deadline is too tight and brokers cannot meet the requirement on time.
Source: CRFIN
