The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) confirmed that it has suspended the CIF licence of Depaho Ltd, parent company of FXGM.
The regulator stated that the licence of the company was suspended due to “suspicions of alleged violations.”
CySEC said that Depaho allegedly offers investment services of advisory as a regular occupation “without the granting of prior authorization” by the regulator.
The Cyprus watchdog went on to list other suspected violations and noted that the investment firm:
- does not appear to comply at all times with the conditions for authorisation;
- does not appear to take all reasonable steps to identify and to prevent or manage conflicts of interest between itself, including its managers, employees and tied agents, or any person directly or indirectly linked to it by control, and its clients;
- does not appear to act honestly, fairly and professionally when providing investment services to clients, in accordance with the best interests of its clients;
- does not appear to understand the financial instruments it offers or recommends, nor to assess the compatibility of the financial instruments with the needs of the clients to whom it provides investment services and does not seem to ensure that financial instruments are offered or recommended only when this is in the interest of the client;
- does not appear to provide information, including marketing communications, to its clients or potential clients that is fair, clear and not misleading;
- does not appear to provide appropriate information to clients or potential clients in good time;
- does not appear to provide the information referred to in article 25(4) of the Law,in a comprehensible form, so that clients are reasonably able to understand the nature and risks of the investment service and of the specific type of financial instrument that is being offered and, consequently, to take investment decisions on an informed basis;
- does not appear to ensure that natural persons giving information about financial instruments, investments or ancillary services, to clients on behalf of the company, possess the necessary knowledge and competence to fulfil their obligations;
- does not appear to ask the client to provide information regarding that person’s knowledge and experience, so as to enable the company to assess whether the investment service or product envisaged is appropriate for the client;
- does not appear to have given to the CySEC written notice of the change in the information relevant to its branch in Spain.
CySEC highlighted that its decision to suspend the Depaho’s licence took into consideration that the company did not provide information on corrective measures on the aforementioned violations and the investigation conducted by the the supervisory authority of Spain, the CNMV, into Depaho’s operation in the Spanish market.
The company’s official website stated:
Depaho Ltd is currently undergoing regulatory review adopting a set of improvements as required by our authority.
Whilst implementing the above, please note that we shall not provide/carry out new investment services and/or enter into any business transaction with any person and accept any new client.
We are currently proceeding strictly in line with our regulator’s directive and our existing clients’ instructions regarding completion of transactions, financial instruments and funds attributable to them.
CySEC has set a two-week deadline for Depaho to take actions to comply with the legal requirements.
In September 2020, LeapRate reported that the Cyprus financial supervisor imposed a €270,000 fine on Depaho for violating investment regulations.
