The Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC) today announced that its Board has decided to impose a fine of €100,000 on Forex broker CommexFX Ltd for violations of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Laws of 2007.
The violations were committed in March and April 2015 and consist of “Dealing on own account” without an authorisation to provide the said service.
The CySEC fine to CommexFX follows a number of other large (i.e. €100,000+) CySEC fines and settlements with regulated companies including binary options brokers Banc de Binary and 24option.com, and Forex brokers EZTrader, IronFX, FXGM, Interactive Option, and UFX.
In reaching its decision, the Cypriot regulator has taken into account the following:
- The importance attributed by the legislator to violations of this kind.
- The importance attributed to the need to ensure that the persons subject to the supervision of the CySEC comply fully with the provisions of the Law and the relevant Directives.
- The importance of holding a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) authorization for the investment service of ‘Dealing on own account’.
- The seriousness attributed to the fact that CIFs must act within the limits of their authorization, in order to protect the interests of their clients and contribute widely to the strengthening of investor confidence in the capital markets.
The license of CommexFX is currently suspended. CySEC initially suspended the license for 15 days in June 2015 and shortly after that prolonged the suspension. CySEC then alleged that the broker had breached the rules concerning operational requirements and safeguarding of client funds.
Meanwhile, visitors of CommexFX website get to see a sign about a license suspension for 15 days.
You can view the official announcement from CySEC about the fine by clicking here.