Deloitte issues FX traders and IBs with survey on ASIC proposals
Professional services and management consultancy giant Deloitte has been instructed by a commercial client to send a survey to CFD and FX traders regarding the proposals by ASIC on the reformation of how CFD products are sold in Australia by retail brokerages
Deloitte, one of the ‘big four’ global professional services consultancies, has today issued a survey to collate the viewpoints of retail traders and partners with regard to the proposals released last month by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) which have been met with a reactive reception by stakeholders.
In August, ASIC released a very detailed proposal in which the regulator demonstrated its clear intention to restrict the methods by which OTC CFDs are sold.
Currently, spot FX is not covered under the proposals, as ASIC has made its stance clear that, as far as regulatory research is concerned, its officials believe that a very high percentage of retail clients have been closed out of positions by their CFD provider automatically at low margin levels.
FinanceFeeds received the survey in a notice from Australian FX and CFD brokerage FP Markets via an introducing broker in Australia. The brokerage today approached its partners, customers and potential clients via email saying “In August 2019, ASIC released a consultation paper that outlined a number of proposed changes that will affect the way clients can trade Forex and CFDs.”
“We would appreciate any feedback that you can provide by completing the survey below. The survey should only take 2-3 minutes of your time and will be completely anonymous” said FP Markets’ mail to interested parties.
There is a link to click at the bottom of the email to launch the survey, which then takes users to a specific landing page on Deloitte’s Australian website.
Once open , the survey’s landing page states that Deloitte is assisting a client in the CFD industry in Australia to respond to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s (ASIC) proposed intervention in the markets for over-the-counter (OTC) binary options and contracts for difference (CFDs).
The content of the survey involves a multiple choice questionnaire which asks traders and IBs to state how long they have been trading for, level of expertise, and the level of leverage they use most often.
It then goes on to ask that if these caps are implemented, how a trader would react, including possibly changing their trading behavior or broker, changing the size of trades, changing the number of trades, or changing to a broker that offers higher leverage.
It then asks traders to consider what they would do if ASIC introduces negative balance protection, and at what level, if any, do traders think that margin close-out protection for retail clients’ should apply. It also asks respondents to state their annual income bracket.
The possible answers for this include if the trading account margin falls to 50% then trades should be progressively closed out, or if the margin falls to 20% the trades should be progressively closed out, or a third answer stating ‘at no level at all.’
Deloitte states that the purpose of this survey is to gather responses from the industry to assist in the preparation of a report which will accompany a submission to ASIC on the impacts of the proposed product intervention on the retail clients.
If you choose to participate, Deloitte will collect some Personal Information about you, such as your email and pay bracket. The survey results will be shared with our client in the form of a report. This report may be further provided to ASIC who may make the results publicly available. Your response will be aggregated into groups and will not be reported on if they contain less than six responses. As a result, your answers will not identify you individually.
The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete, is voluntary and anonymous and participants can come back to the survey at any time as long as you are using the same phone or computer.
The survey will close on Tuesday 24 September at 12am (midnight) AEST.
This survey is conducted using Dtermine, Deloittes survey partner. The company states that anyone experiencing problems in answering the survey please contact Deloitte at [email protected]
