July, 2016

Minsk, July 22, 2016: Financial Commission, operated by FinaCom Plc, and catering to the financial services industry as an external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, today announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Association of Financial Market Development (ARFIN).

The MoU provides a basis to develop favourable conditions to support the Foreign Exchange market for ARFIN members and was signed during a meeting between Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov, ARFIN Chairman, Alexey Sidorov and representatives of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.

The MoU will enable cooperation to improve the dispute resolution process in Belarus, and the exchange of information between both organizations.

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ARFIN, a non-profit organization with voluntary membership structure, together with Financial Commission, will cooperate to improve the field of dispute resolution, by consolidating and creating a streamlined approach, as part of the MoU.

Financial Commission Chairman, Peter

Tatarnikov and ARFIN Chairman, Alexey Sidorov

Before the MoU was signed during the meeting, mutual channels of cooperation were discussed and explored, including how the proposed framework would best suit all parties involved including underlying market participants.

The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus has been active in implementing new decrees and related rules with regard to forex companies, and which are support by ARFIN in the region.

In addition, the framework of the MoU will enable both parties to adjust the type of information exchanged and conduct mutual consultations on industry issues that will be carried out together.

More information about ARFIN and its membership structure, including contact information is available on arfin.by which is the organization’s website.

The MoU reflects Financial Commission’s ability to collaborate with national and independent industry associations, such as ARFIN, in order provide value through such synergies within the financial services industry internationally.

To learn more this MoU and about Financial Commission, please contact us or visit FinancialCommission.org.

July 28th, 2016, Hong Kong & New York: Financial Commission is pleased to announce the launch of Informational Newsletters that will assist traders in understanding trends and challenges related to foreign exchange disputes.

As a result of the growing number of companies within our organization, and as the underlying number of traders protected directly by the Financial Commission continues to rise, the newsletters will provide traders unique insight about brokerage complaints – to help traders be better-informed when considering where to trade.

The Informational Newsletters will be posted on a new section on FinancialCommission.org and will highlight forex industry issues and trends identified by the Commission during the examination of claims – including any fraudulent activity of unscrupulous market participants, in addition to other industry trends that will be shared in the updates.

By informing traders of challenges that exist within the industry, and helping inform the public on how complaints are handled via an External Dispute Resolution (EDR) process, Financial Commission continues to strive towards its goal to educate clients.

In addition, Financial Commission will be sharing complaint data received about non-member firms, highlighting the interest that traders have in attempting to resolve complaints via a 3rd party EDR – even when their broker is not currently a member.

The timing of this launch follows shortly after the recent Global Code of Conduct issued by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which aims to provide a basis for best practices in global FX markets.

Among the Members of the Financial Commission there are more and more companies offering binary options trading and an increasing amount of claims are connected with these products. It is obvious that Binary Options trading is becoming increasingly popular and attracts many inexperienced traders, yet the escalating number of complaints is intelligible.

Financial Commission has also observed a slight increase in the amount of complaints related to customers payment processing requests that exceeded the regulations time-limits. Almost every complaint was connected with a refund directly to a client’s bankcard. This withdrawal method has become increasingly popular in recent years, however, sometimes such payments are processed longer than bank transfer since they depend on a chain of intermediaries. All such complaints were upheld by member firms within 1-3 days, reflecting benefits from the Commission’s members.

An increase in complaints from traders regarding nonpayment of funds by brokerage companies that are nonmembers of the Financial Commission was also observed. Unfortunately, these traders are not under the direct protection of Financial Commission, and its resources are limited in this connection, yet it is important for the public to be aware of such claims.

We once again urge clients to work with companies that are members of our organization, as well as take advantage of our advice on selecting companies that we cited earlier, in order to have the related potential benefits of Financial Commission membership.

Fraudulent activity of unscrupulous brokers and asset managers in the field of asset management.

We also observed an alarming trend worsen, as numerous complaints were received of unfair brokerage firms operating in the field of investment and asset management over the last six months.

In the modern world of investment consulting, services such as wealth and portfolio management as well as trading and investment advisory services are very common. However, distinguishing between legitimate professional management firms and from among the many non-professional deceitful entities – especially in markets where such services are not regulated, remains a challenge for both investors and traders.

First of all, firms that guarantee clients extraordinary profits without any risks should be the first red flag to look for when evaluating an opportunity.

For example, a client may be offered to invest and use instructions (trading signals) of “professional” analyst who in most cases has nothing to do with the broker itself. As a result, under the mentor guidance the client opens several large transactions which can instantly zero out the trading account. In this case mentor offers to replenish your account in order to recover the loss and the same story happens again after a subsequent deposit is made.

Avoid non-market losses that result from scams by avoiding their initial bait:

1. Before you open a trading account, check whether the broker is a member of the Financial Commission.

2. Examine clients comments through the internet about brokers (forums, ratings, media) yet keep in mind not all comments reflect fully factual statements as some feedback reflects clients perceptions or wishes yet reviews can provide clients with a wider view.

3. Examine the contract and client agreement when opening the account, and read all the fine print to understand the legal aspects of your relationship with each broker.

4. In case of dealing with an asset manager, do not forget to conclude an additional agreement (that provides trading authorization) that contains the trading strategy, specifies the maximum risks and responsibilities of the parties, and provide it to the broker and/or make sure they permit such activity. Beforehand, be sure to become familiar with the fund manager and its trading operations and history (track-record).

5. Always remember that active trading is a high risk activity and each individual’s personal suitability should be taken into account in terms of whether such risk is suitable, before deciding to invest. We strongly recommend that traders constantly improve their knowledge in this area in order to make the right decisions both in trading and choice of partners.

Company	Complaint description
Fort Financial Services	Profit annulment
GAINSY	Trading advising and forex investment proposals, falsification of known analysts names
MXTrade	Nonpayment of funds
MyBoption	Nonpayment of funds
Pegase Capital Ltd	Nonpayment of funds
SunbirdFX	Nonpayment of funds
PLUS500	Nonpayment of funds

Minsk, Julio 22, 2016: Financial Commission, operada por FinaCom Plc, y sirviendo a la industria de servicios financieros como una organización externa de resolución de conflictos, hoy anunció la firma de un memorándum de entendimiento con la asociación de desarrollo del mercado financiero.

El memorándum de entendimiento provee una base al desarrollo de condiciones favorables para apoyar al mercado de divisas para miembros de ARFIN y fue firmado durante una reunión entre el presidente de Financial Commission, Peter Tatarnikov, el presidente de ARFIN, Alexey Sidorov y representativos del Banco Nacional de la República de Bielorrusia.

El memorándum de entendimiento permitirá cooperación para mejorar el proceso de resolución de conflictos en Bielorrusia, y el intercambio de información entre ambas organizaciones.

	v	vvv	ARFIN, una organización sin fines de lucro con una estructura de membresía voluntaria, junto con Financial Commission va a cooperar para mejorar el campo de resolución de conflictos, al consolidar y crear una dirección racionalizada, como parte del memorándum de entendimiento.
Presidente de Financial Commission, Peter Tatarnikov y presidente de ARFIN, Alexey Sidorov

Antes de la firma del memorándum de entendimiento, durante la junta canales mutuos de cooperación fueron discutidos y explorados, incluyendo cómo el esquema propuesto se adaptaría mejor a las partes involucradas subyacentes.

El Banco Nacional de la República de Bielorrusia ha estado activo implementando nuevos decretos y reglas relacionadas con compañías de forex, y las que son apoyadas por ARFIN en la región.

Además, el esquema del memorándum de entendimiento le permitirá a ambas partes ajustarse al tipo de información intercambiada y conducir consultas mutuales en asuntos de la industria que se llevaran juntos.

Más información acerca de ARFIN y su estructura de membresía, incluyendo la información de contacto está disponible en arfin.by la cual es la pagina web de la organización.

El memorándum refleja la habilidad de colaborar con asociaciones de la industria nationales e independientes por parte de Financial Commission, tales como ARFIN, para proveer valor por medio de dichas sinergias dentro de los servicios de la industria financiera internacional.

Para aprender más sobre este Memorándum de entendimiento y acerca de Financial Commission, por favor contactenos o visite FinancialCommission.org.

Mr. XXX has lodged his complaint with Financial Commission on the following grounds:

The Client used account #XXXXX for trading operations in the Forex and CFD markets. The incident occurred on 29.04.2016 shortly before the end of the US trading session on Friday. By the time of the incident, the client established a SHORT position in USDJPY:

According to the Client, he placed his Stop Loss order at 107.453 price level, however, the Take Profit order was not set, because the trade was under his full control. After a short period of time, the client’s position was closed by Stop Loss order with a slippage of several points.

The client does not agree with the actions of the Broker and believes that his position was closed at the non-market price. This follows from a comparison of USDJPY price graph in the platform of the Broker with the similar price graphs of other financial services providers.

– to recover funds lost due to improper closing of the short position ($8469.69);

– to compensate for unrealized gains on closed position in the amount of $26150.

For its part, the Broker believes that the Client’s complaint has no ground because his order was executed at real market prices. In support of his decision, the Broker provided the investigation with the server log records and the screenshot of the 1m chart of the instrument.

In addition to the above, the Broker refers to the paragraph XX.XX of the Terms of Business, according to which “The Trading Server of the Broker is the only reliable source of quotations, by which any relationship between both Sides arising from the Customer Agreement, the Terms of Business and other documents of the Company will be governed.”

July 6th, 2016 – Hong Kong and New York: Financial Commission, a leading financial services industry external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, with a diverse membership of online brokerages and independent services providers (ISPs), today announces the technology certification of Forex Development Corporation (FDC), based in New York City.

Financial Commission conducted its rigorous review of FDC’s platforms, including its Condor Prime Back Office for MT4, to ensure it met the technical information requirements of the Commission’s technology certification evaluation process. The Financial Commission established a comprehensive list of requirements in order to verify system security, capacity, business disaster recovery and continuity plan, as well as reporting and record keeping, among other fields deemed important for the technology certification of FDC.

“We are pleased to have concluded a successful technology certification for yet another provider and welcome Forex Development Corporation to the Financial Commission as an approved provider,” said Financial Commission Chairman Peter Tatarnikov. “Reviewing the often complex business processes which underscore how technology works continues to be of the utmost importance amid scrutiny of best practices surrounding trade execution and risk-management, especially as brokers look to outsource such solutions to third parties.”

“As a fully integrated foreign currency exchange solutions technology provider, Forex Development welcomes the opportunity to have the independent and qualified third party Financial Commission (FinaCom Plc), validate its platform,” said FDC Founder and CEO, Mitch Eaglstein. He added: “Certification from the Financial Commission, an organization which harbors a deep understanding of the Forex industry, underscores our commitment to best business practices and commercial integrity.”

Mr. Eaglstein possesses extensive foreign exchange sector experience, having previously held leadership positions at a number of FX firms in various jurisdictions including the U.S. In recent years, recognizing its growth potential, Mr. Eaglstein has focused his attention on the rapidly expanding prime brokerage subsector.

FDC’s customizable B2B offerings allow brokers of all sizes to license its technology to develop prime brokerage offerings that offer seamless MetaTrader 4 integration, advanced profitability analytics in real-time, flexible introducing broker (IB) rebate structures, and allotment of custom development hours to provide unparalleled customer service and individualized platform solutions. More information can be found at www.forexdevelopment.com

The Financial Commission is an external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for consumers/traders who are unable to resolve disputes with financial services providers that are members of the Financial Commission.

With a mission to provide a new approach for traders and brokers alike to resolve any issues that arise in the course of trading the Forex market, Financial Commission provides unmatched benefits to brokerages and their underlying clients.

The Financial Commission was established to be a neutral 3rd party committee to fairly review and resolve complaints in an effort to facilitate a simpler, swifter resolution than through industry regulators and the legal system.

Technology developers seeking membership status with the Financial Commission can learn more about the process and expected requirements as part of the technology certification process in advance of applying for membership or in the preparation of submitting an application.

For more information, please contact The Financial Commission: [email protected]

Complainant		Broker
XXX		YYY
Financial Commission Complaint		#ZZZ
Complaint Raising Date		Complaint Filing Date
29/04/2016		7/06/2016

Complaint Response: … The decision for this complaint is based on the information provided by Mr. XXX and Broker YYY. In order to investigate the incident and to make an objective decision on the complaint, the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Financial Commission closely examined the price dynamics of USDJPY in the period before and after the incident.After a comprehensive analysis of the market situation in the USDJPY instrument at the time of the incident, the Committee concluded that there were non-market prices in the quote feed of the Broker. Thus, the Committee considers that the transaction, which resulted in a Stop Loss order execution, should be canceled. Broker must compensate the losses incurred in a transaction # 27464405 in full ($ 8469.69). As for the customer’s requirements on partial or full reimbursement of the amount of unrealized profit, which was lost because of Broker’s misconduct, the Committee considers that this is not acceptable, because the Client did not indicate his intentions with respect to his open position, and it cannot be assumed what kind of actions he would take in relation to his position otherwise. In addition, the Committee members consider unacceptable the restoration of the Customer’s position after a long period of time, and in connection with the inability to initiate the trade at the original price. This complaint was reviewed by the members of the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Financial Commission and was processed by the Head of the Committee.
Ruled in Favor			Compensation
Client			$ 8469.69
If you have any questions regarding this investigation, please send them to the following address [email protected]
Acknowledgement
I certify that all information was considered by the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Financial Commission and hereby confirm that the decision was made fairly, impartially and without interference. I am confident that the information provided in the document is true.
Signature	Designation			Date
Anatoly Bulanov	Head of DRC			8/07/2016