Exclusive: The Financial Commission backs expansion in Asia as Starfish FX becomes member

Today, in an exclusive report by FinanceFeeds, Peter Tatarnikov, Chairman of FinancialCommission.org, a neutral mediator serving the online foreign exchange and binary options industry, has discussed the membership, which is effective as of today, of its newest member firm Starfish Markets Limited (Starfish FX).

Starfish FX is managed by Starfish Markets Ltd, retail electronic trading company that provides FX, CFD and Binary options trading, with its main office in New Zealand and licensed under the laws of Vanuatu.

Indeed, Starfish FX has been established in New Zealand for quite some time, however with its new registration on the island of Vanuatu, it is clear that the company is ever more keen to develop its presence not only within the Asia Pacific region, where it has considerable presence, but also to take the expertise gained in China and South East Asia to a global client base.

With regard to the drive toward Vanuatu for FX companies which focus on the Asia Pacific region, Mr. Tatarnikov said ” Starfish FX is registered in New Zealand, as well as in Vanuatu, which is its most recent registered jurisdiction. This indicates that the company  is looking toward expansion in Asia, as well as taking its services overseas globally.

Mr. Tatarnikov explained today to FinanceFeeds “As regulation gets more scrutinous in New Zealand, for example the authorities in that jurisdiction are look at banning CFDs, then Vanuatu becomes a very new venue for FX, and the Financial Commission is perfectly positioned for this.”

“It certainly looks like certain companies with a focus on the Asia Pacific market may expand their corporate registration to Vanuatu” explained Mr. Tatarnikov.

Mr. Tatarnikov also pointed out that “New Zealand’s dispute regulation scheme is definitely much more expensive for the brokers and this could be the reason of why many companies look for new homes or a solution such as that provided by the Financial Commission.

Indeed, the interesting aspect with regard to Starfish FX having joined the Financial Commission is that this not only provides a synergy between the firm’s establishment in Vanuatu in order that the company can offer its clients a clear and safe dispute resolution service, but also that it wants to expand its Chinese expertise abroad, to Western nations.

Mr. Tatarnikov explained

“For me, why the onboarding of Starfish FX is a notable moment is that the local companies which operate in the Chinese market are really growing. If we look back at 4 or 5 years ago, there were no local companies, all companies which operated there originated from the west. Now the local market is improving and Starfish FX is a major company in this region, and can compete with the Chinese divisions of western brokers. Now they have joined the Financial Commission which is a operates on a European ethos and is managed by Western industry leaders, showing that the growth of such a company includes taking a global view on expansion.”

“They are bringing good dispute resolution solution to the Chinese market, and at the same time they are telling the world that “here we are, we support the English language and can support clients from all over the world. This is not just Chinese but now international” concluded Mr. Tatarnikov.

This is clearly a sign that Chinese-focused brokerages are going global in order to expand their reach to other clientele.

Vanuatu is becoming competitive for FX brokers. For example, Belize has $500,000 capital requirements, which presents a large risk and brokerages do not want to lose that kind of capital if something goes awry. In Vanuatu, the capital requirement is 2000, so effectively the regulatory environment is right at the beginning of its implementation and is not developed, therefore by joining the Financial Commission, not only can clients have peace of mind but also payment providers and banks can be assured that there is some oversight with regard to client funds and security should a complaint against a broker be upheld.

Starfish FX is the latest member to engage the services of the Financial Commission to provide its customers with a neutral 3rd party mediator to help resolve complaints in cases of disputes where customers are unable to come to an agreement with their broker.

Following the approval of its application by the FinaCom PLC’s board, Starfish FX’s status as an official member of the Financial Commission took effect on April 19th, 2016.

With regard to the membership of Starfish FX, Mr. Tatarnikov made a commercial statement today: “We are proud to welcome Starfish FX as our newest member and glad to see more brokers joining the Financial Commission. In addition to obtaining any existing regulatory licenses, it has become increasingly important for providers to demonstrate their participation with industry associations and commitment to self-regulatory efforts, such as by becoming a member of the Financial Commission.”

StarfishFX Chief Marketing Officer Michael Townsend commented, “We offer a number of products that we want to continue to build clients’ trust around and we believe that by joining the Financial Commission, we show customers our level of commitment in helping to ensure they receive fair treatment from us by having a third-party that they can go to if any disputes arise that we are unable to resolve.”

Mr. Townsend added, “As people explore foreign exchange trading for the first time, we believe that providing them with additional options and education can only be a benefit, and we believe this step we have undertaken helps meet that objective in addition to what we have already established internally at StarfishFX.