Ads and landing pages have been popping up with “We’re not in Cyprus” type ads.
Forex brokerages (at least some) had been known years ago, rightly or wrongly, for advertising which goes beyond ‘aggressive’ and borders on ‘offensive’. Well it seems as if some of that type of advertising is back in vogue, following the recent Cyprus EU bailout.
LeapRate has learned that email and other ads have been circulating for several, mainly smaller brokers, stating things such as “Your money is safe with us. We’re not in Cyprus,” and “The crisis in Cyprus continues to develop the concern for safety of funds… It is essential to have confidence in your current broker.”
Two such ads we have seen we have copied below, from Gallant Capital Markets and 4XP. Gallant is based and regulated in the British Virgin Islands, while 4XP (also known as ForexPlace) is also officially BVI-based, but is not regulated by the BVI’s Financial Services Commission; instead, they are “regulated” by an “independent regulator”, Russia-based FMRRC (Financial Market Relations Regulation Center). Interesting that it is these two firms “throwing stones” at Cyprus FX brokers, and trying to scare clients away from Cyprus-based firms.
In the meantime, as far as we can tell, clients of Cyprus FX brokerages — at least CySEC-regulated brokers — were not harmed nor did they lose any money because of the Cyprus EU bailout and subsequent “haircut” on certain bank accounts in the country. We are even seeing other brokers such as our recent report on Monex Indonesia opening shop in Cyprus, getting licensed by CySEC, and beginning operations there.
4XP ad:
Gallant Capital Markets ad:
To be fair to these brokers, it certainly is possible that these ads were placed by third-party IBs or unaffiliated introducers, and not by the brokers themselves (although the 4XP ad above is a landing page copied from what appears to be the company website at https://www.4xp.com/en/minisites/secured-funds?link=21818). If you are seeing any other such advertising, or abuses of marketing content, please report them to us and we’ll get the message out.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.