The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) said on Wednesday it has imposed a fine of €350,000 in settlement on binary options trading service provider Banc de Binary, which falls under its regulation. The regulator has also fined forex and binary options brokerage Rodele €156,000 for breaching the laws.
The decision regarding Banc de Binary was adopted by the CySEC’s five-member board on 18 January, 2016, while that regarding Rodele was taken on 12 October, 2015. Banc de Binary has already paid the amount.
The settlement with Banc de Binary was reached over possible violation of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Laws. Banc de Binary has failed to comply with the CySEC’s regulations under which a Cyprus-regulated entity should at all times comply with the commission’s requirements for authorization. In addition, Banc de Binary has breached the law relating to the conduct of business obligations when providing investment and ancillary services, such as informing clients about its services, risks, costs and charges that may occur.
Rodele, on the other hand, had to pay a number of fees in the total amount of €156,000 for breaching different laws. The company suffered the following fines:
- €10,000 for not complying with the authorization and operating conditions of the Cypriot financial regulator, including not keeping adequate records
- €20,000 for not taking reasonable measures to avoid any unjustified aggravation of the operational risk in the outsourcing of activities or business operations to third parties
- €30,000 for not acting fairly, honestly and professionally in accordance with the best interests of its clients in granting a trading bonus/trading benefits and in relation to the practices applied in this context
- €30,000 for publishing misleading information on its website and on advertising materials
- €15,000 for providing non-understandable content to potential clients regarding the nature of its services and the associated risks
- €40,000 for not asking clients to provide the necessary information to determine whether the services it provides are appropriate for them
- €10,000 for not applying adequate and appropriate systems and procedures in relation to customer identification and customer due diligence
- €1,000 for not ensuring that appropriate, efficient and sufficient systems and controls for achieving compliance were introduced
Banc De Binary is the trading name of Belize-registered BDB Services. The financial regulatory bodies of Australia and New Zealand have issued warning notices against the broker for operating in the two countries without authorization. The broker offers binary option trading services of more than offer 200 tradable assets, such as forex, stocks, commodities, and indices to retail and institutional customers.
Rodele operates under the trading brands 24Option, 24FX, QuickOption, and Grand Option.
Source: CySEC
Roger Coombs
With the consistently bad reputation that they have had over the years and the vast number of negative reviews and complaints across the web, I am rather surprised that Bank De Binary is still in business. I assume that whatever CySec fines them from time to time is just a slap on the wrist and minuscule compared to what they make from their nefarious activities.