The Belize financial watchdog, the International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC), has issued a warning notice against BDB Services (Belize) Limited, trading under the name of Banc De Binary, for non-compliance with some of the conditions of the annex related to the licence granted for “Trading in financial and commodity-based derivative instruments and other securities”.
No Longer Licensed
According to the watchdog, Banc De Binary, which is registered at No. 5 Cork Street, Belize City, Belize, is no longer licensed by the IFSC and has warned investors and other persons concerned to exercise caution since the aforementioned entity is no longer permitted, either by the IFSC or any other competent authority in Belize, to carry out any type of trading activity.
The update was released by IFSC Director General Neri J. Matus, who last issued a warning against TradeFxP, a firm which falsely and fraudulently claimed to hold a trading in securities licence issued by the IFSC when it was in fact forged.
Softer Touch
Belize is known as an offshore destination for brokers who want to meet fewer and softer criteria and to comply with less strict rules and requirements than are required in other jurisdictions.
FortuneZ reached out to a Banc De Binary representative for clarification as to whether the licence was relinquished voluntarily, but as yet no comment has been received.
Several Warnings
This is not the first time that Banc De Binary has incurred the wrath of various regulators.
Last year, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) imposed two administrative fines on Banc de Binary in May after being on the radar of the watchdog for some time.
This was the second occasion that the firm had to pay a penalty to the Cypriot regulator.
The first infringement was for failing to get the approval of the regulator for additional products which it started to offer and the second was for failing to disclose a close link with another corporate entity.
More recently in January this year, the New Zealand FMA joined ASIC in warning against Banc De Binary after declaring that the broker was not authorised to provide its services in the country.
Lastly, and most importantly, certainly as far as fines are concerned, Banc De Binary was ordered to pay an $11 million settlement to US regulators, CFTC and SEC, following a multi-year investigation over allegations of illegally soliciting its services to US customers.
(Photo: pixabay)
