The FinancialThe United Kingdom’s main financial regulator has continued its enforcement actions regarding Cypriot licensed firms that previously marketed into the UK utilizing the EEA passport regime. Today’s notice, published on the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) website concerns three new firms that have lost their authorizations to provide CFD trading to UK residents.
The regulatory actions in the UK follow notices received from Cypriot authorities – the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), which gave the firms authority to operate in the first place. The Cypriot regulator has confirmed that the below firms have agreed to cease providing CFD trading services to UK residents following the listed dates:
- Maxiflex Ltd, as of 4 June 2020;
- Maxigrid Limited, as of 5 June 2020; and,
- Reliantco Investments Ltd, as of 11 June 2020.
UK customers of these brokerages are encouraged to contact the broker to sort out closing their trading positions and withdrawing funds. Interestingly, the FCA in its notice indicated that UK residents who experience issues with the closing of their account should first file a complaint with the brokerage itself and allow for up to 3 months for a resolution.
Furthermore, the UK regulator acknowledged that if an issue cannot be resolved between the parties, the UK customers should then approach the Cyprus Financial Ombudsman to consider such a complaint. As such, given Europe’s passport rules for offering CFD trading, the customers will need to use the dispute resolution mechanisms available in the country where the brokers are registered, arguably making it more difficult and time-consuming to resolve issues.