One year after binary options ban implementation, fraudsters keep targeting Belgians
Some binary options brokers simply refuse to comply with bans, as confirmed by the latest announcement by Belgium’s regulator FSMA.
A year has passed since Belgium implemented drastic measures with regard to certain online trading instruments, including a ban on binary options offering. It appears that a year was not enough for certain companies to comply with the new rules. Or, also likely, some businesses simply refuse to comply with the ban, as confirmed by the latest announcement by Belgium’s financial markets authority FSMA published earlier today.
In the announcement, the Belgian regulator enlists the name of binary options companies that do not comply with the regulations and continue to offer their services to Belgian residents.
The conclusions from the announcement made is that the ban on risky financial instruments has not been completely effective. This sends an alarming message as to the effectiveness of measures with regard to binary options planned by other jurisdictions – Canada’s securities regulators, for instance, are also mulling a ban on binary options, facing severe opposition from some industry representatives.
France has banned binary options advertising thanks to the implementation of the Sapin II law but the ban has not been taken into account by all companies. Binary options brokers like Stockpair, for instance, have continued to promote their offering via football partnerships on their French-language website.
Some binary options brokers have chosen to switch to other fraud areas, like diamonds and rare earths scams.
The latest additions to the Belgian black list of binary options firms that illegally target Belgian residents features nine websites.
- EasyGestions (easygestions.com)
- FXUnited / United Global Holdings Limited (fxunitedglobal.com)
- Markets Premium (markets-premium.com)
- OneTwoTrade / Up & Down Marketing Ltd (onetwotrade.com)
- Suisse Option / Primary Stream Limited (suisseoption.com)
- TorOption (toroption.com)
- Tp-Markets / Hubstone Holdings Ltd (tp-markets.com)
- VIP Markets (vvipmarkets.com)
- XFR Financial (cloned firm) / E New Sp Z.o.o. (xfr-financial.com)
These include the website of a company abusing the reputation of Switzerland by using an adjective similar to “Swiss” in its business name. FinanceFeeds has exposed such misleading practices in a series of articles. Apparently, however, this fraudulent approach continues to be widely adopted amid binary options firms.
