Prof. Shmuel Hauser, Head of the Israeli Securities Authority (ISA), compared binary options to the blood diamonds mining industry on the African continent, speaking at the Globes Capital Markets conference today.
“Binary options in my view are like those blood diamonds, in that the mining process in Africa has exploited and harmed so many people,” Hauser stated. “We must expand our enforcement capabilities in order to eliminate binary options trading. The common belief of tens of countries around the globe is that the Israeli authorities are turning a blind eye towards binary options and are reluctant to solve the problem.”
He then declared that the legislative procedure taking place in the Israeli parliament against binary options brokers “will be moving forward in the near future”. As reported by FortuneZ, the Israeli parliament’s State Control Committee (government oversight) is working on a new law aimed at banning the marketing of binary options to foreign citizens by Israeli providers.
The latest discussion on the drafted law took place last February. FortuneZ has sent an inquiry to the Israeli Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for the legislative procedure, regarding the current status of the law, but the office declined to comment.
The ISA declared open war against the binary options industry over a year ago. The first dramatic step it took was to ban the offering of binary options to Israeli citizens back in March 2016. Last year at the same conference, Prof. Hauser made some extreme remarks against binary options, saying that it is a fraudulent industry that “burns the money of orphans, widows and pensioners”.
The moves against the Israeli binary options industry have taken their toll on both brokers and technology providers over the past year. The last six months alone saw the complete closure of Banc De Binary, the closure of the local call centers of 24Options and Anyoption, and dozens of unregulated binary option providers have shut down their businesses.
(Photo: ISA)
