The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has issued two recent warnings relating to online trading companies which are not licensed to operate in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Canada’s financial markets regulatory structure differs somewhat from that of the United States, insofar as each province has its own regulatory authority, whereas the activities of market participants in the United States are overseen by federal regulators.
NRG Capital Markets, a Cyprus-based binary options firm, was highlighted as a company which does not possess the required regulatory license to operate in the province of Ontario, with the regulatory pointing out that neither the websites nrgbinary.com and nrgaffiliates.com are authorized to conduct business in Ontario.
Unlike the United States, off-exchange binary options trading is legal in Canada, however participants wishing to provide this to Ontario residents would require OSC licensing. Despite the legality of such products, the trading of off-exchange binary options is relatively rare in Ontario compared to other jurisdictions such as the Asia Pacific region, Great Britain, Australia, and the Middle East.
The second firm to recently fall under the scrutiny of the OSC is UFX Markets, trading under the websites www.ufxmarkets.com, www.ufxaffiliates.com and www.ufxpartners.com, none of which, according to the OSC, possess the required regulatory licenses to operate in Ontario. UFX Markets is a retail FX firm which concentrates a significant amount of its business effort toward Middle Eastern clients.
Toronto, Ontario’s largest city and the third largest financial center in North America, is home to a highly developed electronic trading sector, however FX and binary options does not play a significant part, as the city has long been focused on equities and stock trading.