Breaking: AMF toughens its stance on advertising following public consultation

Maria Nikolova

May the climate for advertising of trading products in France worsen further? Yes, it may.

The French financial markets authority (AMF) continues to produce news which further develops its decisive approach regarding advertising of speculative trading products.

Today, the regulator published a communique clarifying its position on the changes stipulated in the “Sapin II” law, with the view providing even more bad news for the parties involved in advertising of speculative financial products.

The summary is simple – the regulator received feedback from 208 business entities, associations and individuals, as a part of its public consultation launched in August last year. The consultation aimed at gathering opinions that would help to create a general set of rules on how to apply the revised law.

“Sapin II”, putting it bluntly, prohibits advertising of contracts that are highly speculative and imply high risk. A previous statement from the AMF defined these instruments as CFDs with high leverage and binary options. The clarifying stance released today, however, makes a more general assumption on which trading instruments will fall under the scope of the law application.

What the AMF says is that “the document will apply to the following instruments:

  • binary options

  • CFDs (contracts for difference);

  • Financial contracts on currencies.”

In addition, the AMF notes that all participants of the publicity chain that promotes these instruments will be affected: ranging from those who disseminate the ads to those who host illegal websites.

It seems that what the AMF is doing is defending a broader interpretation of what the law states. It is important to note, however, that the way that the AMF interprets the law does not mean that this is its single interpretation. Nor does this mean that the law is changed to cover more instruments. A court may disagree with the AMF’s treatment of the law.

What today’s AMF statement means is that the stringent approach of the regulator is getting more stringent thanks to the lack of specification in the law itself.

The French financial markets’ authority has been regularly updating its blacklists of unauthorized FX and binary options brokers, without any major effect thus far. According to a study amid 14,799 French traders published in October 2014, their losses amounted to EUR 175 million during the 4-year period between 2009 and 2012.

The French regulator is determined to co-operate with the legal authorities to have illegal websites blocked.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Centralized exchanges are 10 times more popular than DEXs in Western Europe

Western European traders are found to prefer centralized exchanges over decentralized ones as CEX traffic outpaces DEXs by a factor of ten.

Market News

Stock Market Analysis: Is NVDA Losing Its Leadership?

Since the beginning of the week, the S&P 500 Index (US500) has seen a modest increase of about 0.58%, whereas NVDA’s share price has experienced a decline of approximately 3.8%. This recent divergence raises concerns among Nvidia stock investors — could it signify a loss of NVDA’s market leadership?

Industry News

ESG: Australian regulator wins first greenwashing court case against Vanguard

Vanguard admitted that a notable portion of the securities within both the Index and the Fund did not undergo the promised ESG scrutiny.

Fintech, Uncategorized

BitMEX integrates HALO from Solidus Labs for cross-market surveillance

“The recent approval of the Spot Bitcoin ETF has piqued the market’s interest. As a result of price volatility, the trading volumes for crypto derivatives have gone up substantially. HALO, with its advanced technology and crypto-native detection architecture, will enable BitMEX to smoothly and safely scale trade surveillance across its increased trading volumes and provide the necessary safeguards for new product launches.”

Reviews

IUX Broker Review

IUX, recently rebranded from IUX Markets, stands as a multi-asset Forex broker recognized for its regulatory compliance across various jurisdictions.

Industry News

Horizon Software rebrands to Horizon Trading Solutions

“Horizon Trading Solutions has seen accelerated global growth over the past year to meet the rising demand for our trading solutions and built-for-purpose technology offering. The choice to rebrand represents a key part of this development, while maintaining our heritage and history in the industry.”

Market News

USDJPY has surged to levels last witnessed in 2022. Should we consider opening a short position?

The recent resurgence of the US dollar has propelled USD/JPY to new heights, touching levels not seen since 2022. This surge comes against the backdrop of stable short-term yields and ongoing economic data that fails to signal a significant slowdown, prompting questions about the extent of current monetary easing measures.

Digital Assets

DED Trends on Twitter After Memecoin Snapshot Announcement

Polkadot-backed community coin #DED, made it to the trending charts on X, demonstrating community’s engagement and interest behind the memecoin. 

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Presale Nears $10 Million Amid Toncoin’s Momentum, Green Bitcoin’s Presale, and the Rise of Other Top Cryptos

This article will examine three top trending topics: Toncoin’s potential, Green Bitcoin’s innovative presale, and BlockDAG’s sustainable mining approach. These cryptocurrencies take centre stage for their uniqueness and innovation.

<