New Zealand’s FMA suspends derivatives licence of AxiTrader
The license of the brokerage is suspended due to material breaches of the Financial Markets Conduct Act.
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) today announces that it has suspended the derivatives issuer licence of AxiCorp Financial Services Pty Limited (trading as AxiTrader).
The regulator explains that the suspension is due to AxiTrader’s material breaches of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, including:
- making a regulated offer to retail clients in New Zealand without a compliant Product Disclosure Statement or Disclose register entry;
- failing to lodge audited financial statements; and
- failing to obtain an assurance engagement with a qualified auditor, for its processes, procedures and controls, within 4 months of its balance date.
The brokerage also contravened its licence conditions by failing to notify the FMA as soon as practicable of a change to senior or other key staff, following the appointment of its CFO. The FMA considers that AxiCorp has demonstrated that it does not have adequate systems, processes, or resources in place to ensure compliance with the Financial Markets Conduct Act, or to effectively perform services under a licence.
AxiCorp’s licence will remain suspended until the FMA is satisfied that its concerns have been addressed.
The terms of the suspension ensure that the FMA has oversight of AxiCorp’s remediation efforts.
During the suspension, AxiCorp is permitted to act as a derivatives issuer in respect of a regulated offer of derivatives for the sole purpose of entering into derivatives with existing clients in order to close out any open position(s) AxiCorp has with existing clients.
The suspension got int effect on July 29, 2019.
