24Options Reopens In France
AMF Lifting Restrictions, 24Option To Reopen In France
24Options, former flagship brand of TechFinancials, has been able to appease the French AMF and is now permitted to reopen operations in that country. This is a landmark event as the French AMF has been among the most active in working to prevent binary options frauds. Their permission comes after 10 months of inactivity and means 24Option has met their stringent requirements to actin the bast interest of French citizens who wish to trade binary options. The ban was due primarily to advertising and marketing practices that did not comply with MiFID regulations. The AMF stated in their release that 24Option could be cleared to operate in France as early as July 3rd.
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This does not mean the AMF has backed down from its fight against non-regulated and fraudulent brokers. Far from it. The regulator has also just announced a warning against 5 new brokers that is has found operating and soliciting to French clients. The new additions to the black list are brands CBF Financial, Toro Next, Easygestions, 4U Groups, and Luxembourg Capital Finance all known to be unregulated and operating in a fashion unbecoming a trusted broker.
Regulators Keeping A Watchful Eye
The UK is also riding herd on the binary options and CFD trading industry. The FCA has permitted a number of brokers to operate in their country but also warns weekly against unauthorized and possible fraud brokers. This week the list includes AIG Options and CMC Options, two brokers using clone names to deliver unregulated financial services to British citizens. Among the complaints include not regulated, cloned names and unauthorized investment advice.
The Australian regulator finally cracked down on BinaryTilt. BinaryTilt is an unregulated and basically untrusted broker operating in Australia for some time. Last year after a few complaints BinaryTilt appeared to be making changes for the better but alas, no. This year ASIC decided to cut its losses and act in the best interest of Australians by issuing a warning and ban of the broker, stating that “might be running or involved in a scam operation”
TechFinancials Restructuring For The Future
As the binary options is shifting gears for the future so too are the big technology providers. The latest news revealed in a Financemagnates exclusive is Techfinancials plans to downsize and off-shore it’s operations. Headquartered now in Israel the company is planning to reduce the size of its workforce and move call centers and other operations in the likelihood a proposed ban on marketing binary options in Israel will pass. The law was introduced two weeks ago and has passed the first of three votes with no opposition.
The law is an extension of laws passed last year which forbid the marketing of binary options to Israelis by Israelis brokers and call centers. The new law will widen the scope to include a ban on marketing binary options to foreigners effectively shutting down the industry in Israel. Critics of the law are vocal and claim, rightly, that a full ban will unneccesarily kill jobs including high paying software development positions.