The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) today revealed that the Investors Compensation Fund (ICF) membership of three companies has been withdrawn, including Inveza Capital Ltd, F1Markets Ltd and FF Simple and Smart Trades Investment Services Ltd.
The former Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs)’s licenses were all previously withdrawn.
CySEC stated in the official announcement:
The loss of ICF membership status does not mean loss of rights of covered clients to receive compensation in relation to investment operations carried out until the loss of membership status, if the conditions for compensation are fulfilled pursuant to the Directive, nor does it obstruct the initiation of the compensation procedure for covered clients.
Retail brokerage operator F1Markets withdrew its licence in December last year and it was confirmed by CySEC earlier last month.
1Markets had several brokerage brands under its operation, such as Investous, 24CM, and EuroPrime, but its operations were not without controversy. The company faced multiple compliance lapses and enforcement actions. In August of last year, F1Markets settled with the Cypriot regulator, paying €150,000 for potential breaches of local regulations. This was a result of a regulatory assessment of the company’s compliance efforts to meet the terms of its partial suspension and other corrective actions taken between June 2019 and July 2020.
In December 2022, Inveza Capital made the decision to renounce its license, despite being a CySEC-regulated entity since 2013. The firm provided investment services through its website inveza.com, previously operating under the names NFX Capital Cy Ltd and Vinst Capital Limited. In addition, FF Simple and Smart Trades Investment Services controlled two brands, Toro Invest and TradoCenter, which offered margin trading to both retail and professional clients.
CySEC recently released its annual report, revealing that it supervised 837 regulated entities at the end of 2022,
