Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has issued a notice to all CIF licensed brokers in the EU island country, regarding the targeting of Spain based retail traders.
Spain’s CNMV is one of the few major EU regulators which has not ‘come down hard’ on the online trading sector by issuing tighter leverage restrictions, or bans on trading and deposit incentives such as activity-based bonuses.
Instead, back in March the CNMV issued directives for issuing clear and direct warnings to retail clients in Spain. Apparently the message did not get through (at least clearly enough) to the many online brokers based in Cyprus, leading to CySEC’s latest “reminder” to brokers.
The full text of the CySEC notice follows:
TO: Cyprus Investment Firms (‘CIFs’)
FROM: Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission
DATE: November 3, 2017
CIRCULAR NO: C248
SUBJECT : Requirements of the Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the CNMV’) regarding the provision of warnings on complex financial instruments to retail clients resided in Spain
Following Circular with no C210, dated May 17, 2017, regarding the abovementioned subject (‘the Circular’), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘the CySEC’) wishes herein to provide the Cyprus Investment Firms (‘the CIFs’) with further clarifications on the provision of warnings on complex financial instruments to retail clients resided in Spain.
More specifically:
1. CIFs must include the warnings mentioned in the Circular on the homepage of their website and not relegate any warning to other part of their website with less direct access.
2. With regard to the language of the warnings, for those websites that adopt Spanish to advertise the products and services offered, CIFs must place the text of these warnings in the same language, including those corresponding to secondary documents.
3. If CIFs wish to include in their general website – and not in a specific one for each user and transaction – a warning on the “cost of closing the position”, this may be drafted in terms of the mechanism or manner for determining that cost (instead of the exact amount in euros). This will possibly reduce the delay in executing the order in question.
On this occasion, CySEC reiterates the duty of CIFs to fully comply with the provisions laid down in the Circular and urges CIFs to do so.
Yours sincerely,
Demetra Kalogerou
Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission