

Japan’s watchdog the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has updated its warning list of unauthorized brokers by adding three binary options brokers: Bizoption (BizOption Management Office), WorldOption (Worldoptionner Management Office) and OptionRally (LFG Investment Ltd).
The websites of Bizoption and BizOption Management Office are inaccessible – both show the message “403 Forbidden”. WorldOption.com has versions in Japanese and English and offers binary trading in forex, indices, stocks and commodities. WorldOptionner Management Office does not provide a company address and claims it is regulated under the applicable laws and regulations of the Seychelles.
The third addition to the list – OptionRally (LFG Investment Ltd) has a company address in Hong Kong and claims it is regulated by Cyprus’ watchdog CYSEC. However, it looks like OptionRally operates through two branches – the one in Hong Kong and OptionRally Financial, which is indeed regulated and registered in Cyprus. The Cyprus unit, however, was already put on the warning list by FSA in 2014, because it was doing business with Japanese investors without the necessary authorization.
OptionRally is on the warning list of several other regulatory bodies, including two securities commissions in Canada – in Ontario and British Columbia, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). An interesting fact is that Hong Kong’s watchdog warns that OptionRally is not located at the address Level 5, 7 and 8, Two Exchange Square, 8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong.
Japan’s FSA notes that by local law the binary options brokers, albeit not based in the country, still need to be regulated by the Japanese financial services watchdog, if they are targeting Japanese investors. Since the above mentioned companies don’t have FSA authorization, they were put on the warning list.