The warning list is to inform the public of companies that we do not recommend to trade with, following numerous reports and complaints filed by customers regarding non-member firms concerning fraud or wrongdoing, which includes the conduct listed below:
Ponzi scheme, Pyramid Scheme, or a High-Yield Investment Program
Theft or misappropriation of funds
Fraudulent or unlicensed offering
False or misleading statements about a company
Other fraudulent conduct
New Members and Services, Continued Growth and Efficiencies, Additional Business Segment and Appointments
February 6th, 2019: The Financial Commission today announces the results of its 2018 annual report. From the creation of a new business segment for digital asset firms to the expansion of its existing member services for FX and CFD brokers, the Financial Commission proves its ability to diversify and the vital role it continues to play supporting international market participants.
Accordingly, Financial Commissions continues to be one of the fastest-growing and most recognized independent SRO and EDR body in the global retail Forex industry.
Seven Forex broker members added
Record number of 945 complaints filed
23% increase in processed complaints YoY
$784,380 awarded to broker member customers
Value-added services launched for broker members
Financial Commission’s 2018 annual report shows sustained growth in many of its key business drivers, surpassing some previously achieved records. While the amount of total compensations awarded to broker member clients in 2018 moderated to $784,380, down from $1,564,700 YoY, the number of total new complaints rose to a record 945. Likewise, the number of resolved complaints increased 23% YoY to 816, up from 629.
Financial Commission services – including assisting with disputes – continue to see significant demand and interest from the broader trading community. The amount of complaints registered against non-member brokers totaled 129, with a majority (82) related to funds withdrawal issues. Furthermore, the amount of trading-related complaints for the non-member segment increased 3x as compared to 2017.
As the number of filed and processed complaints increased by 20% and 23% respectively for the calendar year, the timeframe of resolving the average complaint increased by nearly 20% to 7.9 days, as compared to 6.59 days in 2017. The Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) of the organization attributes this rise to the increased number of processed complaints and the complexity of submitted cases that require additional time for expert input to ensure a balanced and transparent resolution.
The Dispute Resolution Committee continued to see increased geographical diversity among broker clients who submitted complaints or otherwise inquired with questions to the organization. Specifically, a significant amount of complaints were received from Asia, Latin America and The Middle East, as compared to prior years. Likewise, only 21% of all complaints were submitted in English, highlighting the Financial Commission’s multi-language capabilities of handling disputes.
The Commission remained steadfast in improving its core business in 2018 with the launch of additional “Value added” services for broker members. Provided at little or no cost depending on the needs of the member, the services include a virtual dealer platform, multi-asset liquidity, a community-driven registry of client watchlists and an order execution quality certification from partner Verify My Trade.
The Verify My Trade order execution quality certification is similar to the “best execution” requirements in major international jurisdictions, providing an added layer of transparency for brokers and their customers by highlighting the quality of trade executions. In 2018, nine broker members were certified by VMT.
Further to Financial Commission’s core business, the organization launched new a self-regulatory effort in response to cryptocurrency market developments, with the establishment of a Blockchain Association, and guided by a newly formed Blockchain Expert Committee (BEC). Membership in the Blockchain Association will extend the free dispute resolution service already available to a new segment digital asset (cryptocurrency) traders and Blockchain firms. The Association and BEC aim to solve common issues and questions arising from physical exchange of digital currencies by customers, storage of digital assets on the Blockchain, and regional regulations and compliance in key global markets where digital currencies are in high demand. In 2018, the Association added 4 approved member firms and appointed 11 experts to the BEC.
Financial Commission also took proactive steps to improve trader education and regulatory insights for its broker members. In September 2018 the Expert Opinion column was launched on the organization’s official website providing free articles from industry experts, including members of the DRC and BEC.
The organization’s cross-border synergies with national regulatory bodies continued in 2018, including participation in several meetings with the Association of Forex Dealers (AFD) and Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets by Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov, where Mr. Tatarnikov consulted committee members on variety of areas, including the regulation of CFDs, improvements to the current Forex legislation and KYC requirements for broker clients, advising on forex and derivatives trading.
In step with its strategy of expanding into digital assets and Asian markets, Financial Commission attended numerous events and participated as an exhibitor, and on a panel at key industry gatherings in 2018 across the globe, including in Europe, Asia, Israel and the US providing ample interaction with the public including gauging hearing industry sentiment.
Financial Commission 2018 Results in Review
On the backdrop of significant regulatory changes in key Forex market geographies including ESMA-related changes in Europe, as well as volatile trading conditions, Financial Commission was strategically aligned with the needs of the industry in 2018, as evidenced by its results and record achievements. Furthermore, with the expansion into digital assets and Blockchain, the organization also expanded its reach to cryptocurrency traders, investors and tech firms.
Even in mature and electronic markets, it is natural for disputes to arise from time to time, yet the process for resolving disputes between counterparties, including broker-to-client trading, is not always straightforward. Financial Commission’s mission is to assist the industry in overcoming these inevitable challenges, by providing fair and efficient dispute resolution as a core service.
When grievances cannot be amicably resolved between member brokers and their customers, a formal complaint is filed with Financial Commission – where it is then examined using a systematic approach and is fully investigated before being reviewed by the DRC to render a non-bias decision. Using a proven dispute resolution process, Financial Commission achieved another exceptional year across some of its key operating metrics during 2018, including the following highlights:
2018 Highlights
A total of 7 new members were approved by Financial Commission – as well as 2 fintech providers and 1 education provider certified, which brought the total number of members to 33 (including certified technology providers). During the year, all existing members upgraded their category of membership to A level.
There were 3 new appointments made to bolster the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) bringing its total to 21 committee members.
Fincap Advisors and FDCTech, Inc. (formerly known as Forex Development Corporation) were both added to the Partners section.
There were 945 complaints filed with Financial Commission, a nearly 20% increase compared to 764 complaints filed in 2017.
Over $784,000 in compensation was awarded in 2018, with a total of $3,184,932 sought by broker member clients.
All Category B broker members upgraded their level of membership to Category A, increasing their customer’s protection up to €20K from the Compensation Fund.
Value-added services were introduced to Category A members providing complimentary and discounted access to important services from the Financial Commission’s network of partners.
The launch of the Blockchain Association and BEC provided a first of its kind dispute resolution mechanism for digital asset traders and investors with 4 approved member firms and 11 appointments to the BEC.
An Expert Opinion column was launched on the organization’s official website providing free education materials to traders and valuable regulatory insights for members.
Financial Commission provided a comprehensive report on types of trading bonuses offered by brokers, and continued to actively update its warning list, helping to deter the public from potential online scams.
The organization launched Arabic language support on its website and processed incoming disputes from Arab speaking traders starting in April 2018.
Chairman Peter Tatarnikov participated in meetings of the Expert Council of the Association of Forex Dealers (AFD) – a leading SRO in Russia and attended several key events, including the III International Conference on the Protection of Investors Rights in Moscow.
Financial Commission participated in key industry events across the globe, meeting with clients, members and the public at important industry conferences in New York, Miami, London, Israel, Cyprus, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and held important meetings with industry regulatory bodies in Eastern Europe.
2018 Statistics in Review
Below the Commission presents further details of its Annual Report for 2018, with statistics on the number of complaints handled and key metrics regarding processing and mediation results. The statistics information is insightful to our members and their clients, the public, and for brokerages and technology developers that are considering the benefits of obtaining membership with the Financial Commission and/or are interested in learning about the organization’s structure.
As market participants continue to demand best execution and fair dealing, the need for transparency continues to grow and brokers that are willing to voluntarily demonstrate transparency by becoming members.
Building trust is crucial and using fair and neutral 3rd party dispute resolution – that Financial Commission provides – is an effective solution in cases where clients or brokers cannot resolve matters together and seek an independent channel and wish to avoid often complex legal or costly arbitration alternatives. The Financial Commission continues to achieve this objective by providing brokerages and technology firms with the benefits that accompany membership status, as seen in the statistics results for 2018.
As the number of new member continued to grow, there was a significant increase in the total number of complaints received in 2018 (945 complaints filed), compared Year-over-Year from 2017 (764 complaints filed). This nearly 20% increase was driven from the addition of new members reflecting the increasing credibility and positive reputation Financial Commission has been earning since its foundation, and coupled with market volatility from major geopolitical events during the year.
The monetary amounts for complaints filed during 2018 ranged from as low as $100 to as much as $76,800, and the total amount of compensation that was paid out was $784,380 from a total of 945 complaints filed. The six-figure total compensation sought highlights the increased monetary significance of the complaints processed by the DRC and broker client’s reliance on the Commission in getting disputes resolved (as opposed to, in some cases, resorting to other regulatory bodies and legal channels including costly arbitration).
The geographical reach of the Commission, as well as language options for traders continue to diversity the pool of traders who submit complaints for review. Thus, while the Russia & CIS region continues to be the prominent geographic origin of trader disputes, Asia, the Middle East and Latin American now account for 11%, 9% and 8% of all disputes files in 2018, respectively. Likewise, 4%, 5% and 6% of complaints were processed in Asian, Latin and Arabic languages, respectfully.
Overview of 2018 Complaints Statistics:
Total Complaints filed 945 (100%)
o Complaints filed against Members 816 (86%)
o Complaints filed against non-Members 129 (14%)
o A record 945 Complainants sought $3,184,932
Total amount of compensations $784,380.00
o Maximum complaint amount awarded $260,240.00*
o Minimum complaint amount awarded $10.00
Total amount of resolutions (against Members)
o Resolutions in favor of client 153 (19%)
o Resolutions in favor of broker 373 (46%)
o Out of jurisdiction 290 (36%)
*Includes account trading bonuses
Types of Complaints
Trading complaints are directly related to the process of trading on the market and the affect of execution of orders, payment of margins, calculation of commissions, forced liquidation of positions and other parts of the trade cycle. These complaints are considered by the Dispute Resolution Committee and included in the statistics.
Total amount of trading complaints 231:
o against Members 228
o against non-Members 3
Financial complaints are related to transactions on the account, and in majority of cases involve delays in withdrawals. Such complaints do not fall under dispute resolution process; however, the Financial Commission never rejects such complaints and helps advocate the payment process with clients till the end. We do not record cases of non-payment of funds to the clients by Member-companies. Nevertheless, in cases when such complaints are received against non-member companies providing of a refund to the client from the broker is often very problematic.
Total amount of financial complaints 365:
o against Members 283
o against Non-Members 82
Non-trading complaints are often clients’ complaints about the facts of losses incurred as a result of cooperation with the administering traders and sales consultants. To a lesser extent these are complaints for automatic copying transactions systems and signaling services. Such complaints do not fall under the dispute resolution process; however, we always analyze the contract, risks warning, correspondence and negotiations with the client and also give our assessment of the situation and recommendations for a possible settlement of the dispute.
Total amount of non-trading complaints 349:
o against Members 305
o against Non-Members 44
Geographies and Languages
Disputes processed by language:
English
21%
Russian
64%
Asian (Thai, Indonesian, Chinese, etc.)
4%
Latin (Spanish, Portuguese)
5%
Arabic
6%
Disputes processed by region:
Russia & CIS
62%
Asia
11%
Middle East
9%
Latin America
8%
Europe
7%
Africa
4%
North America
1%
Blockchain Association and Blockchain Expert Committee
Financial Commission first engaged with blockchain technology providers in 2015 and recognized the importance of developing best-practices for crypto exchanges which share many parallels to foreign exchange markets and technology used by forex brokers. This is partly because existing laws do not recognize digital assets yet or regulations have not yet been created in many parts of the world. Even in places where guidelines and guidance exist from regulators, consumer protection mechanisms are still evolving.
Given these circumstances, the Financial Commission developed effective solutions for digital asset traders and investors to increase self-regulatory efforts in the absence of government-sponsored mechanisms. The Blockchain Association relies on the Blockchain Expert Committee (BEC) which is comprised of Blockchain industry experts, including those that have participated in independent 3rd party dispute resolutions in the past, and have studied the facts of each dispute and the processes in place to reach an official resolution. Because the dispute resolution process is not currently based on established market regulations, the resolutions provided are non-binding on the customer and their service provider yet provide significant value in the form of recommendations for both parties.
The BEC is led by Steven Hatzakis, the Global Director of Research, Forex & Crypto for ForexBrokers.com, a Reink Media Group brand. Steven is an active fin-tech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level.
Blockchain Association Members
In 2018 the Blockchain Association added 4 approved members.
Blockchain Expert Committee
In 2018, the Financial Commission appointed 11 experts to the BEC. To find out more about the business profiles of each expert, please visit our website.
Steven Hatzakis – Global Director of Research, Forex & Crypto for ForexBrokers.com
Simon Grunfeld – Founder & Executive Director – Ibinex
Dmitri Turkevich – Director of Business Development at Rambler&Co.
Aleksey Kutsenko – CEO Tools4Brokers.com
Bryan Feinberg – CEO and Founder of Etheralabs, Zephyr and P2Primex
Pavel Salas – CEO Tokenbox
Stanislav Shamayev – Crypto and Blockchain Business and Corporate Attorney
Vasily Alexeev – СТО Serenity, CEO UpTrader
Clark Hogan – Founder Byzantine Works
Rika Khurdayan – Dilendorf Khurdayan PLC
Max Dilendorf – Dilendorf Khurdayan PLC
Katerina Troshina – Co-Founder SmartDec
2018 Events, Meetings, Developments, and Cross-border Collaborations
Continuing into commitment to the APAC region, Financial Commission exhibited at the 2018 iFX Expo in Hong Kong which took place at the end of January, followed by the 2018 Asia Trading Summit in Shanghai in March, followed by the 2018 iFX Expo in Cyprus in May, as well as participated in the 2018 IFINEXPO in Beijing. In November 2018 the organization also exhibited at the Finance Magnates London Summit.
Echoing its strategy of expansion into digital assets and Blockchain in 2018, the Financial Commission participated in the 2018 Trading Show New York, Blockchain Shift 2018 in Miami and the Next Block Blockchain Conference in Tel Avil in December.
Continued interaction with government regulators included consultations by Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov at important meetings of the Expert Council of the Association of Forex Dealers (AFD) at the Committee on Financial Markets of the State Duma, as well as the III International Conference on the Protection of Investors Rights in Moscow. Mr. Tatarnikov assisted the AFD in a variety of areas, including the regulation of CFDs, improvements to the current Forex legislation and KYC requirements for broker clients.
Public feedback continued to be supportive of the role that Financial Commission holds in the industry and these views were supported by the increased number of new members and other key areas of growth experienced during the year.
New Member Announcements in 2018
Appointments Made to the DRC in 2018
A total of three persons were appointed to Financial Commission’s DRC in 2018, bringing the total current number of committee members to twenty one.
Demetrios is a multi-award winning executive and academic financial market specialist, holding a Fellow Charter Membership from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI) and he is the recipient of the European Commission (2017), Microsoft Research Grant (2016), the Amazon Web Services Award (2014) and the 30 under 30 prize by Square Mile Magazine in 2011. Dr Zamboglou obtained his MEng in Computer Systems Engineering with concentration in Formula Engines from Lancaster University, and his MSc from CASS Business School, where he specialised in IPOs and financial markets. Dr Zamboglou holds a PhD from King’s College London in Behavioural Finance. Demetrios Zamboglou is the Chief Business Developer Officer of Lykke AG, a financial technology company, responsible for the Firm’s International Business. Dr. Zamboglou joined the Firm in November 2016 from FXTM, where he led the firm’s UK operations. Prior to that, he held progressively senior roles as a corporate executive, risk manager, and quantitative analyst. Before Lykke, Dr. Zamboglou held Executive leadership roles at FXTM, zebrafx and FOREX CLUB specialising in issues including business development, strategy, risk management, market-making, and compliance.
Roland Gemayel holds numerous degrees, including a PhD in Finance from Kings College in London, as well as a Master of Science with distinction from Cass Business School. Prior to joining Lykke, Roland was the Chief Dealer at Maximus FX and is also the founder of eSocialTrader – a financial resource on the topic of social trading, where Roland publishes opinions, experience, and research findings on the growing phenomenon of social trading. His work is published in top academic finance journals. Roland is a senior finance professional with over seven years of international experience in risk management, market making, financial modeling, consulting, product development, business operations, and strategy. His current work at Lykke as the chief dealer involves developing market making algorithms and building performance metrics and risk systems to ensure steady growth of trading operations.
With Bachelor degree in Oriental science, MBA in Project Management, vast experience in Asian markets, and being fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Pavel is a frequent guest speaker at regional industry events and roundtables. In 2013 Pavel founded Trade Exact Consulting, which provides market entry and business development services for brokers expanding into Asian markets. In 2015 Pavel became a Founding Partner of Tradefora PLC – OTC industry’s first fully automated TCA and trade execution analytics engine for retail FX, CFD, and margin crypto traders.
Current Members of the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC)
Anatoly Bulanov – Head of Dispute Resolution Committee
Simon Grunfeld – Founder, Gallant Partners
Ilan Azbel – CEO, AutoChartist
Lior Nabat – CEO, Tradency
Aleksey Kutsenko – CEO, Tools4Brokers
Juan Pablo Jutgla – CEO, Better Way FX Consulting
Akin Abbak – Managing Partner, Abbak Attorneys at Law
Kristina Nettles – Vice President, Integral
Nir Porat – Co-Managing Partner, Ben Basat, Porat & Co.
Peg Reed – COO, Forex Development Corporation
Dr. Anna Becker – Founder, Sherpa
Ran Cohen – Founder, Traders Education
Carl Elsammak – CEO, Kammas Trading
Maor Lahav – COO and co-Founder, Panda Trading Systems
Quinn Perrot – GM, TRAction Fintech
Brian Phillips – Founding Partner Argosy Global Advisors
Alexey Sidorov – Chairman, Financial Market Development Association of Belarus (ARFIN)
Valery Dolgov – CEO IndigoSoft
Demetrios Zamboglou – Chief Business Developer Officer in Lykke AG
Roland Gemayel – Chief Dealer in Lykke
Pavel Khizhnyak – Founder of Tradefora
Technology & Education Certifications
The Financial Commission certified the trading technology of FDCtech, Inc. (formerly Forex Development Corporation) and Binomo, as well as the trader education provider Trader’s Education. This brings the total number of certified providers to 12.
Closing Remarks from Financial Commission Chairman
“We are pleased with Financial Commission’s many achievements in 2018, and are continuing to take steps at improving and expanding our services into 2019. On the backdrop of highly dynamic conditions last year for financial markets and the financial services industry, Financial Commission experienced significant growth in some of our core operating metrics, including a record number of complaints received and processed for the second year in a row. Notwithstanding the addition of new FX broker members and certified firms, we have achieved so much in improving and expanding our core business, as well as launching a completely new venture for digital asset traders. Our Blockchain Association quickly gained traction and attention from industry participants, helping us onboard 4 member firms within just the first month of operation and assemble a group of experts to assist us going forward. We thank all of our members and supporters dedicated to helping foster transparency with their commitment to our rules and use of Financial Commission’s services, as we now enter our 7th year of operation. We continue to welcome new members and encourage new and existing brokerages, technology developers, digital asset exchange and Blockchain firms, whether regulated, unregulated, or self-regulated, to submit their membership application to Financial Commission, and review our requirements to see if your firm will qualify for approval. Members that become approved show their customer their willingness to be open and transparent and, Financial Commission will stand by both sides in cases where a complaint is filed through our EDR system, and with the aim to bring it to resolution fairly and swiftly. We look forward to continuing to improve our core services for FX traders and continue building out our digital asset and Blockchain-focused segment. Likewise, we hope to continue to provide valuable education and resources to help them determine the best way forward in their trading.”
Peter Tatarnikov,
Chairman,
Financial Commission
October 16th, 2018, The Financial Commission, a leading independent member-driven external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for international online brokerages that participate in global foreign exchange (forex), derivatives, and CFD markets is pleased to announce its recent successful participation at the Blockshift 2018 conference, which took place on October 11-12th in Miami, Florida.
The event brought together over 300 investors, 110 speaks and 100 sponsors to discuss the ever evolving blockchain and digital currency markets. Of particular interest was the panel titled “Regulatory Update: What’s New at the SEC, FINRA, FinCEN, CIMA and CFTC”. The Commission and event attendees were able to receive some new insights into how the U.S. regulatory bodies view digital currencies, ICOs and token issuance in the framework of existing and proposed regulations. We bring to your attention some highlights of the discussion:
Our representatives met with event delegates to discuss developments in blockchain technologies, as well as regulatory efforts in the US and offshore. Given the Commission’s continued interest in developing effective self-regulatory mechanisms for digital currencies and blockchain, our lengthy discussion focused on approaches to regulation by the Blockchain Association of the Cayman Islands.
Commenting about the event participation, Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov said, “Our interest in blockchain and digital currency regulation continues to grow as we respond to increasing inquiries from our Financial Commission members and partners regarding best practices in this unique space. We joined Blockchain Shift 2018 to get the best update on the current regulatory environment and connect with key stakeholders to find synergies for self-regulation initiatives.”
To learn more about how Financial Commission provides digital commodity traders and cryptocurrency firms with an effective dispute resolution channel visit FinancialCommission.org or contact us to learn more about our services.
March 6th , 2018: FinaCom PLC, operator of the Financial Commission (FinancialCommission.org) – an independent Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) and External Dispute Resolution (EDR) body for foreign exchange (Forex), CFD, and cryptocurrency market participants, including retail consumers, brokerages, and technology providers, today announces the results of its 2017 annual report.
Financial Commission’s 2017 annual report reveals substantial increases in many of its key business drivers, with significant acceleration compared to its 2016 results. The amount of compensations awarded increased exponentially to $1,564,700.00 in 2017, a nearly tenfold rise compared Year-over-Year (YoY) from $157,326 in 2016.
From the creation of new business segments to the expansion of its management and staff, and new approved members and improved complaints processing statistics for 2017, Financial Commission continues to prove its ability to scale and the vital role it has supporting international market participants. Accordingly, Financial Commissions is one of the fastest-growing and most recognized independent SRO and EDR body in the global retail Forex industry.
Financial Commission experienced greater interest from the broader trading community in assisting with disputes, as the number of complaints registered against non-member brokers rose to 135 in 2017, up more than triple on the year-over-year basis compared to 37 filed in 2016. A record 764 complaints sought over $5.77m in complaints.
Even as the number of filed complaints increased by nearly 500% rising to 764 for the calendar year (or more than 63 per month on average) Financial Commission demonstrated that its EDR system is highly efficient as the speed of resolving the average complaint improved by 7% compared to 2016. Likewise, the ratio of resolved complaints improved by 15% in 2017, reflecting the increased efficiency of Financial Commission’s dispute resolution process.
Further to Financial Commission’s core growth as an independent for-profit business, there were significant cross-border synergies with national regulatory bodies including ARFIN in Belarus during 2017, and Russia’s State DUMA shortly after the conclusion of the calendar year where Chairman Peter Tatarnikov consulted the Financial Markets Committee, advising on forex and derivatives trading.
Financial Commission attended numerous events and participated as an exhibitor, and on panels at several key industry gatherings in 2017 across the globe, including in Europe and Asia, providing ample interaction with the public including gauging sentiment and hearing feedback..
Major Industry Themes During 2017
Following the importance of the Global FX Code highlighted in last year’s annual report, there continued to be a rise of non-bank dealers in 2017 including prime brokers (PBs) and liquidity providers (LPs). Furthermore, more retail brokerages embraced and adopted aspects of the code’s voluntary standards which could soon help unify laws in various regulatory hubs surrounding forex, and as the need for best execution and dealing transparency becomes commonplace in the years ahead.
Self-regulatory efforts continued to be of importance in 2017 along with government mandates where many brokers and technology providers with business in Europe had prepared for MiFID II which went into effect in early 2018.
Following the IOSCO research noted in last year’s report surrounding leverage and margin-based OTC derivatives, the UK, and other EU-member states took massive action to reduce leverage, and institute other default requirements for margin-based trading accounts, and negative balance protection for CFD traders in countries like Germany.
An increasingly growing number of brokerages launched cryptocurrency CFDs in 2017, coinciding with the market for ICOs becoming flooded with capital across the world, and the need for proper risk-management and crypto liquidity becoming important for margin-based cryptocurrency CFDs trading offerings. Some brokers discontinued their crypto offerings temporarily to improve their setup with regards to contract specifications and risk-management and liquidity sources.
Financial Commission 2017 Results in Review
On the backdrop of highly dynamic market conditions and a new cryptocurrency-related landscape steadily emerging, Financial Commission was strategically aligned with the needs of the industry in 2017, as evidenced by its results and record achievements.
In terms of the relationship between counterparties, including broker-to-client trading, as it is natural for disputes to arise from time to time, the process for resolving such disputes is not always as straightforward, and providing fair and efficient dispute resolution is a core part of Financial Commission’s mission to assist the industry in overcoming these inevitable challenges.
When grievances cannot be amicably resolved between member brokers and their customers, a formal complaint is filed with Financial Commission – where it is then examined using a systematic approach and is fully investigated before being reviewed by the DRC to render a non-bias decision. Using a proven dispute resolution process, Financial Commission achieved another record year across many of its key operating metrics during 2017, including the following highlights:
2017 Highlights
A total of 13 new members were approved by Financial Commission – a 75% increase year-over-year, as well as 4 fintech providers certified, which brought the total number of members to 44 (including certified technology providers). During the year, two existing members upgraded their category of membership to A level.
There were 8 new appointments made to bolster the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) bringing its total to 19 committee members.
Traders Education, Verify My Trade, Dartek Consulting, and Drofa PR, were added to the Partners section.
There were 764 complaints filed with Financial Commission, a nearly five-fold increase compared to 165 complaints filed in 2017.
Over $1.56 million in compensation was awarded in 2017, a nearly tenfold increase Year-over-Year (YoY).
Financial Commission warned about clones, and issued a warning list, helping to deter the public from potential online scams.
The technology certification unit was expanded with the launch of Financial Commission’s ICO Certification service to address the increased demand of technology providers who seek to use blockchain technology to conduct initial coin offerings (ICO) related to their Financial Technology (Fintech) offering.
The technology certification unit was expanded with the launch of the Education Certification Service, for providers of education-related technology.
Chairman Peter Tatarnikov joined the Expert Council of the Association of Forex Dealers (AFD) – a leading SRO in Russia.
Financial Commission appointed ex-FOREX.com manager Nikolai Isayev as COO
Financial Commission participated in key industry events across the globe, meeting with clients and members at important industry conferences in London, Cyprus, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and held important meetings with industry regulatory bodies in Eastern Europe and the Caribbean, and Central America.
About Financial Commission
Founded in 2013, Financial Commission (operated by FinaCom PLC) is a for-profit independent business that operates as an EDR and SRO and is not a governmental organization nor designated by any sovereign nation. Financial Commission provides services-based & membership-based solutions and maintains brands domiciled in several jurisdictions including Hong Kong (HK), the United Kingdom (UK) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). The three pillars that uphold Financial Commission’s mission statement are market transparency, efficient dispute resolution, and market participant education.
Supporting self-regulatory efforts is just one of the benefits provided by the Financial Commission as its members join voluntarily – yet members must adhere to strict guidelines to maintain membership and demonstrate transparency, compliance, and integrity.
Financial Commission facilitates an unparalleled dispute resolution process between online brokerages and their end-customers when the inevitable case of trade disputes cannot be resolved between parties.
The subject of each complaint can be as diverse as the underlying broker, product, or customer, yet all disputes share one thing in common which is to seek fair dealings regardless of the financial services products, providers, trading technologies, or pricing issues related to market participants’ transactions, from the complaints that are filed.
Financial Commission helps protect the interests of both brokers and traders in a non-bias manner by providing a fair and neutral platform to effectively resolve complaints. Financial Commission ensures that traders and brokers are getting their disputes resolved in an efficient, unbiased, and quick manner, using a proven EDR platform. While dispute resolution services are only available to members, Financial Commission provides a growing array of non-member services such as technology certification solutions and an expanding partner network. Financial Commission’s official website is https://FinancialCommission.org, and is steered by its executive board, management team, and committee members, with leadership that spans the global industry.
Executive Board
Peter Tatarnikov – Chairman
Peter has 17 years’ experience in the Forex Industry. He started his career as a trading desk assistant back in 1999 and in 2003 he filled a Chief Dealer position in one of the largest retail Forex brokers in Russia. In-depth knowledge of FX operations and high managerial skills brought Peter to a COO position at Forex Club USA in 2006 and in 2010 he earned a CEO chair. During his career, Peter designed and held over 200 seminars on Forex Trading. He also conducted seminars for senior representatives of the Bank of Russia on western models of Forex regulation. Professional trader and author of a dozen books Dr. Alexander Elder, included Peter’s trading strategy into his book “Entries & Exits”. Peter’s professionalism and commitment have made him a well-known FX market commentator and spokesperson for the retail FX industry.
Michael Greenberg – Board Member
Michael Greenberg is the CEO and founder of Forex Magnates. Michael launched Forex Magnates in 2009 as a simple blog in an effort to bring more transparency to the forex market. Ever since the humble project grew into a well known portal providing daily news, commentary and research about the forex industry in 7 languages. Since 2012 Forex Magnates is also operating several major industry B2B conferences such as Tokyo and London Summit and IFXEXPO Asia. Prior to Forex Magnates Michael worked as Sales Executive for a forex software firm and prior to that was an Associate in an investment bank. In January 2012 Michael was chosen as “Forex Person of the Year 2011” by the prestigious FXStreet portal.
Alexey Pavlenko – Board Member
Alex has 17 years of marketing experience and he is a true expert in strategic planning and operational marketing. His career includes a variety of projects including the Forex industry. One of Alex’s strengths are start-ups and has helped develop 3 major Forex projects from scratch. In 2003 he was appointed to the Chief Marketing Officer position at one of the largest retail FX Brokerage companies – Forex Club, where he successfully led growth and market innovation initiatives.
Management Team
Anatoly Bulanov – Head of Dispute Resolution Committee
Anatoly has rich experience in the field of trading and finance in general, as well as over a decade experience in financial markets education. Online and offline seminars, trading rooms, and market research are just a few of the elements Anatoly has specialized in, having witnessed and dealt with countless situations and scenarios that any trader could ever stumble upon. The International Academy of Exchange Trade in Beijing and Forex Club in New York are some of the places where Anatoly has built up his impressive track-record. Founder of educational portal GMTPartner.org, Anatoly provides traders and investors with proprietary market sentiment indicators based on the portfolio of trading strategies.
Nikolai Isayev – Chief Operating Officer
Nikolai held a number of senior roles for GAIN Capital Group’s Forex.com brand, with a concentration across various regions including Russia, Eastern Europe, Australia and the US. While at GAIN Capital Group, Nikolai held senior marketing roles which included managing and coordinating across related efforts tied to trading signal products and platform technology localization in many regions of the world including five years in Russia and the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) for the broker. Nikolai is the founder and president of New York-based Dartek Consulting, a boutique advisory firm providing marketing and consulting services to venture capital firms, crypto companies and online brokerages.
Artem Karpichenko – Senior Operations Officer
Artem Karpichenko is a law professional who currently holds the role of Senior Operation Officer, helping our organization serve participants in the online financial brokerage industry. Before his current role, Artem was a Senior Counsel at RDI Group in Moscow, where he gained hands-on experience dealing with court litigation and legal cases that often arose between consumers and companies. Artem obtained a Bachelors of Laws from King’s College London, after obtaining a Master’s degree in Civil Law from the Russian Academy of Justice in Moscow, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the field of legal work in Government agencies.
2017 Statistics in Review
Below the Commission presents further details of its Annual Report for 2017, with statistics on the number of complaints handled and key metrics regarding processing and mediation results. The statistics information is insightful to our members and their clients, the public, and for brokerages and technology developers that are considering the benefits of obtaining membership with the Financial Commission and/or are interested in learning about the organization’s structure.
As market participants continue to demand the best execution and fair dealing, the need for transparency continues to grow and brokers that are willing to voluntarily demonstrate transparency by becoming members.
In March, Financial Commission expelled a member for non-compliance after it did not honor the ruling of the DRC related to monetary awards based on two complaints filed against it from two affected customers. This expulsion also required that Financial Commission take emergency action to help the affected clients by utilizing the compensation fund to pay the customers a combined $7,082 to cover that two award amounts and cover the damages after their broker failed to do so.
Building trust is crucial and using fair and neutral 3rd party dispute resolution – that Financial Commission provides – is an effective solution in cases where clients or brokers cannot resolve matters together and seek an independent channel and wish to avoid often complex legal or costly arbitration alternatives. The Financial Commission continues to achieve this objective by providing brokerages and technology firms with the benefits that accompany membership status, as seen in the statistics results for 2017.
As the number of new members added grew, there was a significant increase in the total number of complaints received in 2017 (764 complaints filed), compared Year-over-Year from 2016 (165 complaints filed). This nearly 500% increase was driven from the addition of new members reflecting the increasing credibility and positive reputation Financial Commission has been earning since its foundation and coupled with market volatility from major geopolitical events during the year.
The monetary amounts for complaints filed during 2017 ranged from as low as $7 to as much as $846,200.00, and the total amount of compensation that was paid out was $1,564,700.00 from a total of 764 complaints filed. The nearly five-fold increase in compensation sought highlights the increased monetary significance of the complaints processed by the DRC and broker client’s reliance on the Commission in getting disputes resolved (as opposed to, in some cases, resorting to other regulatory bodies and legal channels including costly arbitration).
Overview of 2017 Complaints Statistics:
Total Complaints filed 764 (100%)
Complaints filed against Members 629 (77,58%)
Complaints filed against non-Members 135 (22,42%)
764 Complainants sought a record $5,773,857
Total amount of compensations $1,564,700.00
Maximum complaint amount awarded $846,200.00
Minimum complaint amount awarded $7.00
Total amount of resolutions (against Members)
Resolutions in favor of client 153 (24,32%)
Resolutions in favor of broker 319 (50,72%)
Out of jurisdiction 157 (24,96%)
Types of Complaints
Trading complaints are directly related to the process of trading on the market and the effect of execution of orders, payment of margins, calculation of commissions, forced liquidation of positions and other parts of the trade cycle. These complaints are considered by the Dispute Resolution Committee and included in the statistics.
Total amount of trading complaints 162:
against Members 160
against non-Members 2
Financial complaints are related to transactions on the account, and in the majority of cases involve delays in withdrawals. Such complaints do not fall under dispute resolution process; however, the Financial Commission never rejects such complaints and helps advocate the payment process with clients until the end. We do not record cases of non-payment of funds to the clients by Member-companies. Nevertheless, in cases when such complaints are received against non-member companies providing a refund to the client from the broker is often very problematic.
Total amount of financial complaints 331:
against Members 263
against Non-Members 68
Non-trading complaints are often clients’ complaints about the facts of losses incurred as a result of cooperation with the administering traders and sales consultants. To a lesser extent, these are complaints for automatic copying transactions systems and signaling services. Such complaints do not fall under the dispute resolution process; however, we always analyze the contract, risks warning, correspondence and negotiations with the client and also give our assessment of the situation and recommendations for a possible settlement of the dispute.
Total amount of non-trading complaints 265:
against Members 200
against Non-Members 65
2017 Events, Meetings, Developments, and Cross-border Collaborations
Financial Commission exhibited at the 2017 iFX Expo in Hong Kong which took place at the end of January, followed by the 2017 Asia Trading Summit in Shanghai in March, followed by the 2017 iFX Expo in Cyprus in May where Chairman Peter Tatarnikov spoke on a panel about regulation and gave an interview to a local TV channel at the expo. In November 2017, Financial Commission also attended the 2017 Finance Magnates London Summit.
Event participation in 2017 continued to provide Financial Commission with direct access to meet with brokers and technology providers as well as interact with professional and retail traders.
2017 IFX EXO Cyprus
2017 IFX EXO Cyprus
2017 IFX EXO Hong Kong
2017 Asia trading Summit Shanghai
2017 Asia trading Summit Shanghai
2017 IFX EXO Hong Kong
2017 Finance Magnates London Summit
Public feedback continued to be supportive of the role that Financial Commission holds in the industry and these views were supported by the increased number of new members and other key areas of growth experienced during the year.
In early November Financial Commission enhanced its member rules with regard to complaints processing and subsequently added QR codes to its Certificates to deter the risks of clone websites and forged information.
Following the MoU announced in 2016 between Financial Commission and the Association of Financial Market Development (ARFIN) in Belarus, in July 2017 Financial Commission welcomed ARFIN’s chairman to join Financial Commission’s DRC.
A total of seven new persons were appointed to Financial Commission’s DRC in 2017, bringing the total current number of committee members to nineteen.
Dr. Anna Becker – Founder Sherpa
With more than 20 years of senior leadership and innovation in retail brokerage and finance organizations, Dr. Anna Becker has core experiences in founding retail software solutions and building retail brokerages. She has proven expertise in bringing new technologies like big data systems, behavioral systems and automation to drive innovation in retail trading. Dr. Becker’s early entrepreneurial successes range from founding Strategy Runner (Sold) to driving growth in established organizations (MF Global, Gilboa Fund). Lately, she founded Sherpa (www.allsherpa.com) to provide new technologies and services to retail financial institutions. As an experienced executive and change agent in retail finance, Dr. Becker has worked with more than 300 brokers and has served as the compliance officer with regulators like the NFA and CFTC. Dr. Anna Becker holds MSc degree in computer science and PhD degree in AI from Technion (Israel). She is also an author of several books on Artificial Intelligence and has deep experience in algorithmic investment solutions.
Ran Cohen – Founder Traders Education and FX Leads
Ran Cohen, Founder and CEO of Traders Education, a pioneer in online financial education, continues to support traders around the world with a wide range of educational resources available in 30 languages and helping brokerages to improve their most important business metrics. In addition to Traders Education, Mr. Cohen founded Fx leads – one of the most successful lead generation agencies for forex brokers. Mr. Cohen has more than 14 years of advisory experience in the financial retail industry which helps power both companies. He has served a vast number of clients with leading performance based education & marketing tools for brokers, affiliates, and IB’s from all over the world.
Maor Lahav – COO and co-founder of Panda Trading Systems
Maor Lahav is a seasoned financial technology executive with more than 10 years of experience. Maor started his career as a young algorithm trader in the 90s, and one of his primary expertise is the large scale high performance systems arena, infrastructure built out, web applications and engineering for high frequency & low latency trading environments. As the Chief Operating Officer, Maor in charge of the relationships with Panda’s strategic partners Panda Trading Systems (Panda TS) specializes in building high-performance, cutting-edge technology for the online financial trading industry. Since 2006 they have provided many of the world’s leading online brokerages with a range of products and services specifically customized to meet their business needs. The company’s vision is to continually provide brokers with solutions that streamline operations so they can focus their resources on growth. Panda TS is best known for their unique approach to building strong partnerships with their client.
Quinn Perrot – GM, TRAction Fintech
With an extensive background in IT, Quinn started in the financial markets as IT Manager for City Index. He then went on to be co-founder and General Manager of AxiTrader, one of Australia’s largest Margin FX providers. Quinn’s knowledge of OTC derivatives and trading platforms has made him an important figure in the derivatives regulatory and industry reform space. Quinn has provided educational sessions to Australia’s regulatory bodies in relation to retail derivatives trading platforms. Quinn has also dealt with Treasury in Canberra, Australia to advise on and discuss the retail OTC derivatives industry. At the moment Quinn holds a position of General Manager in TRAction Fintech
Brian Phillips – Founding Partner, Argosy Global Advisors
Brian began his career at Goldman Sachs within the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) Division. He was instrumental in expanding the business into new markets and helped build out the liquidity, API, algo and platform offerings for hedge funds, banks, asset managers and retail broker clients. After extensive work within the institutional space at Goldman Sachs, Brian founded Argosy Global Advisors.
Alexey Sidorov – Chairman of the Financial Market Development Association of Belarus (ARFIN)
Alexey Sidorov – Chairman of the Financial Market Development Association of Belarus (ARFIN) is a prominent financial markets economist with senior-level executive experience which includes serving for private companies and governmental financial institutions over a career spanning 17 years. In his most recent position, Alexey was Deputy Head of the Department for Foreign Economic Activities Monitoring at National Bank which drafted legal regulatory acts under the main directorate for currency regulation and currency control. Alexey held this role from 2013 through June 2016, and his work involved monitoring foreign trade activities and drafting appropriate regulations to meet policy needs as Deputy Head of the department. Before his promotion to the role of Deputy Head, Alexey was Chief Economist at National Bank, for eight years from 2005 through 2013, and during that time was an adviser (councillor) for the currency regulation department within the main administration of currency regulation and currency control. This department drafted legal acts and maintained existing rules for currency regulations and under Alexey’s guidance. From 2001 to 2005 before joining National Bank, Alexey was senior economist at Infobank (JSCB) within the active operations department which managed the bank’s loan portfolio and sale of banking products.
Valery Dolgov – CEO IndigoSoft
Valery has created his own IT-company, IndigoSoft LTD, which has united a team of highly skilled specialists in the field of broker software development. The accumulation of extensive practical experience and skills has allowed him to create a new unique product – Broker Pilot. This is a corporate web-platform, which takes the technological level of dealing to an unprecedentedly high level of quality. This platform has realtime monitoring, risk management and automatic management of broker business processes. Valery’s goal is to create new technologies and provide them to management companies and brokers. Valery has finished a postgraduate degree in the Saratov state Technical University, specializing in IT. Since 2003 he has created trading algorithms, platforms, liquidity API for hedge funds, managing companies and brokers. He has many years of successful trading experience in financial markets and great experience as a Chief Dealer. Valery has earned a reputation as one of the best professionals in the industry.
Current Members of the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC)
Anatoly Bulanov – Head of Dispute Resolution Committee
Ilan Azbel – CEO, AutoChartist
Carl Elsammak – CEO, Kammas Trading
Simon Grunfeld – Founder, Gallant Partners
Lior Nabat – CEO, Tradency
Aleksey Kutsenko – CEO, Tools4Brokers
Juan Pablo Jutgla – CEO, Better Way FX Consulting
Akin Abbak – Managing Partner, Abbak Attorneys at Law
Kristina Nettles – Vice President, Integral
Nir Porat – Co-Managing Partner, Ben Basat, Porat & Co.
Peg Reed– COO, Forex Development Corporation
Vadim Sviderski–Editor, Finance Magnates
Anna Becker – Founder, Sherpa
Ran Cohen – Founder, Traders Education and FX Leads
Maor Lahav – COO and co-Founder, Panda Trading Systems
Quinn Perrot – GM, TRAction Fintech
Brian Phillips – Founding Partner Argosy Global Advisors
Valery Dolgov – CEO IndigoSoft
Alexey Sidorov – Chairman, Financial Market Development Association of Belarus (ARFIN)
Technology Certification Services Extended to Education Providers and ICO Issuers
In August 2017, Financial Commission extended its technology certification service to financial technology (Fintech) companies pursuing the use of blockchain technology via an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and that are seeking to voluntarily demonstrate compliance with a minimum set of standards established by Financial Commission’s ICO Certification Committee. Initially, several experts were appointed as committee members, following the creation of the ICC division in 2017.
Pavel Salas – Head of the ICO Certification Committee
Pavel is well known in the foreign exchange industry for his senior roles in international FX brands, including Alpari, Alfa-Bank, and GKFX. More notably, Mr. Salas developed and managed the Russian and CIS operations of one of the world’s most popular social trading platforms, eToro. Today, Pavel has emerged as an expert in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He is currently the CEO of Tokenbox, a unique ecosystem that combines crypto-currency funds under the management of professional portfolio managers and traders on the one hand and investors on the other. Pavel is also the founder of Blockchain Consult advisory, focused on educating companies on the technology and the integration of blockchain in traditional business processes. Apart from his business practices, Mr. Sales has conducted master classes related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain in leading universities in Russia, as well as advising the State Duma of Russian Federation on the regulation of these new markets and technologies.
Steven Hatzakis – Fintech Consultant
Steven Hatzakis is the CEO of his Fintech consulting firm Steven Hatzakis Inc., and serves as Global Director of Research, Forex & Crypto, for Michigan-based Reink Media Group, heading the ForexBrokers.com and FuturesBrokers.com portfolio brands. Steven holds a series 3 license as a commodity futures representative and registered CTA for over a decade. He has spoken at and attended over 30 industry events including as a member of the media, in New York, Switzerland, London, Cyprus, and Hong Kong. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates and has held numerous positions with technology-driven online multi-asset brokerages regulated in the US and internationally over the course of nearly 20 years in the Forex industry.
Avi Mizrahi – Blockchain Editor at Finance Magnates
Avi is a trained economist with a BA and MBA from TAU, specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. His interest in the business culture in greater China led to his studying for an IMBA at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. He previously worked at a stock options trading desk for a bank in Israel and later as an associate for FXCM. Avi is Finance Magnates’ Blockchain Editor and has been covering the cryptocurrency ecosystem since 2013.
Dmitri Turkevich – Director of Business Development at Rambler&Co.
Dmitri Turkevich is a seasoned marketing professional in the online advertising industry with a focus on digital marketing within the online finance and gaming sectors. Since November 2015, Dmitri currently serves as Director of Business Development at Rambler&Co. an innovative marketing agency that serves content on the web and mobile devices to 42 million users across multiple publications and through its various brands. Since 2013, Dmitri is currently a partner at MediaSniper, a Moscow-based media company that provides global Real-Time Bidding (RTB) and Demand Side Platform (DSP). Prior to founding MediaSniper in 2013, Dmitri was CEO of Direct Media & Gaming and with the firm for over six years since March of 2008. Before embarking on his nearly-decade career in finance marketing, Dmitri studied economics in 2002 for four years at the Institute for US and Canadian Studies – a Russian think tank that is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Simon Grunfeld – Founder & Executive Director – Ibinex
Simon’s roots stem from the retail FX marketplace and IT solutions – a former registered CTA with the NFA, Simon has a solid background of the inner workings of the capital markets. Simon started his career in IT and then became a registered CTA (2006) to form Gallant FX and then co-founded and headed up the product development of Gallant VPS and co-founding Gallant Capital Markets (GCMFX). His expert knowledge of developing a project and launching products, in some markets, driven by innovation, has allowed him to participate in the launch of some brokerages and the deployment of SaaS/PaaS initiatives, in use by many large retail institutions. Simon founded Ibinex in 2014 and now caters to a growing number of White Labels and institutional cryptocurrency solution providers.
Bryan Feinberg – CEO and Founder of Etheralabs, Zephyr and P2Primex
Bryan Feinberg is the CEO and Founder of Etheralabs, Zephyr and P2Primex. All early stage innovation launchpads. For the past past several years has been deeply involved across the Blockchain ecosystem and across multiple early stage and emerging companies technologies and ecosystems.. Bryan is a licensed investment banker holding is 7, 63 and 79 FINRA Licenses as well as a Founding Partner of The-Blockchain.com. Focus Areas: Banking & Regulatory Compliance, Syndication, Intelligence, Wallet Security, Search, Machine Learning and Big Data.
Theodosis Mourouzis – Director of the MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM)
Theodosis is a Research Fellow at UCL’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL-CBT) amd Director of the MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM). Theodosis is also an advisor to BitJob, Greeneum and Crypto20 and have been a consultant with PeerPlays. He holds a BA/MA and a Master of Advanced Study in Mathematics from University of Cambridge, a Master of Research (MRes) in Security Science and a PhD in Information Security and Cryptography from University College London (UCL). His interests lie in the areas of cryptanalysis, applications of data analytics techniques in fraud prevention and Blockchain security and regulation. He has consultancy experience across many different countries and he has been a consultant with many SMEs and big organisations such as banks and technology bodies. He is Recipient of the UK University Cipher Champion 2013 award.
Vitaly Bulychev – Co-Founder – Pandora Boxchain
Vitaly Bulychev is known as an entrepreneur, investor and researcher in the field of distributed ledger technology since 2012. Inspired by the opportunities of decentralization and synergy of cross-disciplinary competencies, Vitaly invested in a number of crypto-related projects, including industrial-scale mining and private investor pool management. At the moment, Vitaly is working on Pandora Boxchain, a project on the global decentralized economy of artificial intelligence, and also consults and participates in the implementation of a number of projects, in particular, the processing platform, delegated democracy tools and solutions in the field of cybersecurity.
In response to a need to distinguish educational materials from marketing content, in November 2017 Financial Commission extended its Technology Certification service to education providers, with the launch of the Education Provider Certification service. This new offering enables educational providers to voluntarily subject their educational materials for review by Financial Commission, when seeking to become a certified Education Provider.
2018 Outlook: Cryptocurrency Increasingly Adopted by Multi-Asset Forex Brokers
Following the reduction in leverage in 2017 that was anticipated in Financial Commission 2016 report, regulators have shifted to begin to issue guidance and restrictions about margin-based cryptocurrency CFDs, cryptocurrency exchanges trading the underlying, and announcements related to ICOs.
We expect these trends to continue to impact the online brokerage industry as fintech companies seek to raise capital via ICOs while implementing blockchain into their products and services, as well as see more brokerages continue to launch cryptocurrency CFDs, exchange-traded cryptocurrency products, and trading the underlying. Forex Brokers offering cryptocurrency CFDs faced challenges in 2017 with sourcing crypto liquidity and managing risks during high periods of market volatility causing leverage and trading to be reduced, comparable to the risk-management steps taken during Brexit-related market volatility during extreme times when leverage was reduced and trading suspended or put in close-only mode. We expect the industry to further mature in this regard as more crypto assets become listed as CFDs with more and more forex brokers that offer margin-based trading, as well as delivery of the underlying.
Many self-regulatory trade associations are emerging to help meet the needs of the industry and may play an increasingly important role to guide policy for institutions and law makers, as new regulations are established to support the emerging blockchain economy in different parts of the world. Forex and CFD brokers continue to face the challenge of scaling their volumes amid a reduction in leverage and the demand for best execution. We expect regulatory arbitrage to become more pronounced then dissipate in a cyclical manner as new regulations are established in the wake of further innovations for public decentralized networks and for permissioned blockchain networks, as well as rules surrounding how related cryptographic assets are traded on secondary markets.
As a rise in ICO marketing scams and unbalanced advertising has led to major bans on serving ICO-related ads on networks like FaceBook already in 2018, these trends highlight the growing need for best-practices to be established for marketers involved in ICOs and token sales. Financial Commission’s Technology Certification service expanded to include Education Provider certification and ICO certification, to align with the growing needs of the Financial Technology and the Financial Services industry. We expect these segments to continue to evolve and mature as market conditions dictate.
For brokerages and technology providers operating in less stringent regulatory environments and jurisdictions where either no formal rules have been outlined, becoming a member of an independent SRO such as Financial Commission demonstrates a commitment to compliance, and helps win and maintain clients’ trust.
With industry trends firmly in place, Financial Commission is positioned to sustain its growth through 2018, pending any major overhaul to global financial markets by the G20, for margin-based derivatives including forex, CFDs and cryptocurrencies, as well as trading the underlying in over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded markets. Financial Commission’s work with other private and national bodies, helps align our efforts strategically with emerging trends and needs of the broader community.
Online brokerages and technology providers who put their clients’ interests first, join Financial Commission to provide customers a channel for dispute resolution, in the inevitable rare cases when disputes cannot be resolved internally.
With the arrival of cryptocurrencies, financial product complexity has risen to new heights, and client education has never been more important when it comes to understanding the evolving risks and potential of various investment products, including a broker’s policies and procedures, product specifications, internal processes and controls – and other material information which affect customers and their contractual relationship with their broker.
Financial Commission continues to strive to educate clients, and brokers, and support related initiatives while holding brokers to high standards, and investigating each complaint that is filed through our EDR system by using a proven approach to the dispute resolution process.
Closing Remarks from Financial Commission Chairman
“We are delighted with Financial Commission’s record achievements in 2017, and are continuing to carry that momentum into 2018. On the backdrop of highly dynamic conditions last year for financial markets and the financial services industry, Financial Commission experienced exponential growth in many of our core operating metrics. We experienced new milestones across the board last year including in membership, complaints processing, technology certification, education initiatives, as well as appointments to management, staff and committees, the creation of new business segments, and cross-border synergies with private and government organizations, all supporting our core mission. We thank all of our members and supporters dedicated to helping foster transparency with their commitment to our rules and use of Financial Commission’s services, as we now enter our sixth year of operation. We continue to welcome new members and encourage new and existing brokerages and technology developers, whether regulated, unregulated, or self-regulated, to submit their membership application to Financial Commission, and review our requirements to see if your firm will qualify for approval. We’ve also benefitted from industry feedback as we look to improve amid a changing landscape for financial markets globally with geopolitical tensions, rising interest rates, and the arrival of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. We look forward to continuing to roll out our new range of services to help the new and existing members, including technology certification services to non-members. Members that become approved show their customer their willingness to be open and transparent and, Financial Commission will stand by both sides in cases where a complaint is filed through our EDR system, and with the aim to bring it to resolution fairly and swiftly.”
Peter Tatarnikov,
Chairman,
Financial Commission
To learn more about the benefits and requirements of joining the Financial Commission, available for brokerages and technology providers, contact us and visit www.financialcommission.org
February 1, 2018: Financial Commission, a leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, operated by FinaCom PLC, and serving the online forex and CFD brokerage industry, is pleased to announce a successful participation as an exhibitor at the 2018 IFX EXPO Asia.
IFX EXPO event in Hong Kong saw more than 2,500 attendees, 60+ Industry Professional Speakers and over 100 confirmed exhibitors and representatives from hundreds of financial services providers starting from the biggest IBs to top-tier retail brokers, asset managers, technology leaders, banks, hedge funds and regtech start-ups.
Participation in the IFX EXPO Asia event supports the industry and provides market participants with the chance to learn more about the Financial Commission’s role in the industry.
This includes how the organization is helping its members improve the services they offer to clients using a 3rd party dispute resolution process afforded via membership status and certification services within the Financial Commission.
Our representatives met in person with event delegates and helped answer questions while increasing industry awareness of Financial Commission’s activity.
Commenting about the event participation, Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov said, “We are proud to announce another successful participation in IFX EXPO and want to thank all our members and delegates at the event that showed support.”
“The Financial Commission has a proven business model for some time already, considering the number of brokers who have joined as members and technology providers who have undergone our certification, thus showing great necessity in services we providing for our clients from the side of Forex market participants.”
Mr. Tatarnikov added: “Our proven approach to remedying complaints and commitment to education and best practices are some of the reasons that significant interest continues to be shown from both brokerages and platform technology developers who see the benefits of joining Financial Commission to enhance their own self-regulatory efforts”.
August 15th, 2017 Financial Commission, a leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization catering to the financial services industry, operated by FinaCom PLC, announces the convening of roundtable on August, 29 at 6 pm (Moscow time) to discuss how forex business may develop in the environment of stricter regulation both in Russia and globally.
Stricter regulation of the forex market both in Russia and globally calls into question the existence of many brokerage companies. Leading experts in the industry will gather at the roundtable on August, 29 at 6 pm (Moscow time) to discuss how forex business may develop in such environment, what regions are attractive for entrance and how to promote such services. Petr Tatarnikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Financial Commission, Nikolai Isaev, CEO of the Dartek Consulting, and Valentina Drofa, Director General of Drofa communications agency will take part in the event. The round table will be an online event.
“With the start of the market regulation era in Russia and tightening of the business in the UK and Europe in general, forex companies costs have significantly increased. However, there are still chances for development: for example, the US market can be opened for new players because of the abolition of the Dodd-Frank law, besides some peripheral Russian-speaking countries show some interest in forex. Which markets to enter and how exactly to do it, will be discussed in detail at our event,” Peter Tatarnikov commented.
“Access to the market for unregulated participants will soon be closed completely. What alternative jurisdictions may be of interest, what is the stand of the Russian regulator on the matter of forex industry and what to do with tools that are not yet affected by the law, meaning e.g. binary options – here is a far from complete list of issues to discuss during the round table, Isayev adds.
“The idea of the event surfaced as a result of my communication with the owners of forex companies over the past 3-4 months. The key question everybody asks now – how to work to remain effective in the ever tighter environment. In order to give the most information on the issue, we decided to gather experts in one place and to talk about how we see the development of the industry, ” Valentina Drofa says.
The round table is intended for owners and employees of financial companies only. Registration for the event is required. You can register by the link http://toomuchmoney.ru/
For details of participation, please, call +7499 110 41 72
January 10th, 2018 – The Financial Commission (FinaCom PLC), a leading independent member-driven external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for international online brokerages that participate in global foreign exchange (forex), derivatives, and cryptocurrency markets, today announces Traders Education (Traders Technologies T.E. Limited) as a certified educational provider
The Financial Commission conducted a thorough review of the educational content Traders Education offers helping to ensure that users who receive such content have access to accurate educational materials.
Traders Education demonstrated compliance to a set of standards that Financial Commission requires to meet as part of the certification process. Traders Education is now listed on Financial Commission’s official website as a certified education provider.
Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov said regarding the new certification: “We are pleased to announce Traders Education as the first certified educational provider under Financial Commission’s recently launched certification program for education providers. The need for content creators to adhere to best practices continues to be an important theme in the marketing of complex financial products.”
“In addition to the certification services we provide to platform developers and ICO issuers, we welcome providers of educational content who cater to the global online brokerage community to apply for Financial Commission’s educational provider certification process.”
About Traders Education
Traders Education is a pioneer company in online financial education dedicated to changing day-to-day life at brokerages everywhere. Backed by years of industry experience, Traders Education designs and delivers cutting-edge educational tools and user-friendly marketing solutions aimed at achieving results through a simple, quick and interactive experience.
Founded in 2010 by Ran Cohen and geared primarily towards the FX industry, with a focus on education, Traders Education has come a long way in a short time. Today, company’s world-class marketing tools cater to the entire financial retail industry.
About Financial Commission
Founded in 2013, Financial Commission is an industry-supported Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) whose members join on a voluntary basis, subject to approval and strict adherence to membership rules, to maintain good standing. Financial Commission provides efficient compliance solutions to its members, alongside its External Dispute Resolution (EDR) mechanism that serves as an effective channel for processing complaints from clients of member firms. To learn more about the education provider certification service, visit the official Financial Commission website at https://FinancialCommission.org and contact us.
December 26, 2017, Financial Commission, a leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, operated by FinaCom PLC, today announces that it has permanently expelled Carrax Inc from membership with the Financial Commission.
In order to maintain membership with the Financial Commission, member firms must strictly adhere to membership rules and all members agreed to comply with Financial Commission rules as one of the many prerequisites for initial membership approval and to maintain good standing.
Carrax Permanently Expelled
Effective December 26, 2017, Carrax was expelled from membership with the Financial Commission due to repeated violations and failures to adhere to membership rules and numerous opportunities given to Carrax to rectify its shortfalls.
As Financial Commission is an industry-supported self-regulatory organization (SRO) our enforcement of member compliance is reflected entirely within our membership standings where a firm’s integrity and adherence to rules must be strictly upheld in order for membership to be maintained.
Financial Commission is committed to assisting new and existing firms to comply with their membership obligations. Yet the Financial Commission will not tolerate when members fail to uphold their obligations.
For more information about Financial Commission membership requirements, please contact us or visit www.FinancialCommission.org.
December 21st, 2017, leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, Financial Commission, catering to the financial services industry and operated by FinaCom PLC, today announces HD Forex has upgraded its membership status with Financial Commission to Category A.
HD Forex had re-joined Financial Commission as a category B member in September 2017, and recently upgraded its membership status to Category A effective as of December 21st, 2017, following approval by Financial Commission.
As a category A member, HD Forex, and its customers are currently entitled to a wider range of services and membership benefits including protection for up to $20,000 per case from Financial Commission’s compensation fund.
Financial Commission is an independent external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for consumers/traders who are unable to resolve disputes directly with their financial services providers that are members of the Financial Commission.
Peter Tatarnikov, Financial Commission Chairman commented, “As a larger number clients utilize the services of Financial Commission, upgrading from Category B often happens either in parallel to an increase in the broker’s own client base and/or within the first year of joining as the firm and its clients start to see the benefits of Financial Commission membership.”
“We are pleased to report that HD Forex upgraded its membership with the Financial Commission from Category B to Category A status, which will in turn provide a wider range of benefits for its clients as a category A member.”
About HDForex
HDForex is a broker that offers a wide range of products and services, such as currencies, commodities, indices, CFDs and a variety of accounts including self-directed trading and PAMM accounts. HDForex aims to provide excellent service, analytics, and quality trading education while giving clients the best trading experience across available financial markets. HDForex equips traders with innovative products, services, and knowledge.
To learn more about HDForex, please visit HD Forex
About Financial Commission
Founded in 2013, Financial Commission is an industry-supported Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) whose members join on a voluntary basis, subject to approval and strict adherence to membership rules in order to maintain good standing.
Financial Commission provides efficient compliance solutions to its members, alongside its External Dispute Resolution (EDR) mechanism that serves as an effective channel for processing complaints from clients of member firms.
To learn more about Financial Commission, contact us directly at [email protected]
The warning list is to inform the public of companies that we do not recommend to trade with, following numerous reports and complaints filed by customers regarding non-member firms concerning fraud or wrongdoing, which includes the conduct listed below:
Ponzi scheme, Pyramid Scheme, or a High-Yield Investment Program
Theft or misappropriation of funds
Fraudulent or unlicensed offering
False or misleading statements about a company
Other fraudulent conduct
December 20th, 2017, leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, Financial Commission, catering to the financial services industry and operated by FinaCom PLC, today announces SFX Markets as its newest approved Member.
SFX Markets status as an A-category Member of the Financial Commission took effect on December 18, 2017, following the approval of its membership application by Financial Commission, thus allowing the company and its customers access to a wide range of services and membership benefits including, but not limited to, protection for up to $20,000 per submitted complaint, backed by the Financial Commission’s compensation fund.
Financial Commission provides brokerages and their customers with an unbiased 3rd party mediation platform that helps resolve complaints in instances when parties are unable to directly come to an agreement over disputes.
For approved members and their clients participating in CFDs and foreign exchange (forex) markets, Financial Commission helps facilitate a simpler, swifter resolution process than through typical regulatory channels such as arbitration or local court systems.
SFX Markets joins a diverse range of brokerages and independent services providers (ISPs) that utilise the services of the Financial Commission and as part of their commitment to their clients while upholding membership requirements.
About SFX Markets
SFX Markets is a next-generation investment brokerage company that provides its clients with direct access to interbank liquidity supported by the most modern and innovative technologies in the financial trading industry. SFX Markets’ brokerage model is built on the execution of customer transactions directly to the market by the use of Straight Through Processing (STP) technology. The company guarantees that every client transaction of 1000 c. u. or more will be processed at the highest level, with virtually no restrictions on the maximum size traded.
For more information please contact SFX Markets at [email protected]
About Financial Commission
Financial Commission is an independent external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for consumers/traders who are unable to resolve disputes directly with their financial services providers that are members of the Financial Commission. Financial Commission initially set out to provide a new approach for traders and brokers alike to resolve any issues that arise in the course of trading electronic markets such Foreign Exchange, and then expanded into CFDs and related derivatives, in addition to certifying technology platforms used for trading.
The warning list is to inform the public of companies that we do not recommend to trade with, following numerous reports and complaints filed by customers regarding non-member firms concerning fraud or wrongdoing, which includes the conduct listed below:
Ponzi scheme, Pyramid Scheme, or a High-Yield Investment Program
Theft or misappropriation of funds
Fraudulent or unlicensed offering
False or misleading statements about a company
Other fraudulent conduct
December 12, 2017 – The Financial Commission, a leading independent member-driven external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for international online brokerages that participate in global foreign exchange (forex), derivatives, and cryptocurrency markets, today announces a partnership with VerifyMyTrade. With this partnership, all current and future members of The Financial Commission will receive discounts on all VerifyMyTrade products.
Regulatory constraints such as the ones specified in MIFID II are forcing forex brokers to create a trading environment that is fair and transparent for all market participants. VerifyMyTrade offers services that encourage fair play in the forex market by allowing market participants to assess the quality of the execution their broker is providing.
VerifyMyTrade consolidates price feeds from dozens of global OTC retail forex brokers and produces statistical models of the representative market price based on the raw tick data for every second of the day.
VerifyMyTrade product suite is comprised of three offerings; a regulatory reporting framework that deals with execution quality, a framework for building trust between the trader and broker by highlighting the quality of execution the trader is receiving, and a dispute resolution service for brokers that reduces the cost and time needed to deal with traders’ queries regarding trade price execution.
Jeremy White, CEO, VerifyMyTrade commented “Regulations such as MiFID II are forcing the industry to be more transparent about execution and how this information is communicated to all stakeholders. We are very happy to partner with the Financial Commission who share the same transparency vision and look forward to working with the Financial Commission member brokers”.
About VerifyMyTrade
VerifyMyTrade is a third-party data repository that provides post-trade execution analysis on individual forex trades. Verify My Trade aggregates forex price tick data from retail brokers into its repository and uses a box plot method to segment trades by execution quality for any given second of the trading week. The analysis results of each report will help provide greater resources for clients in cases when a specific trade is in question, as they will be able to assess the execution quality for each trade using the Verify My Trade analysis tool, making it an all-around benefit to all parties when it comes to execution-related trade disputes.
Financial Commission is an independent external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for market participants who are unable to resolve disputes directly with their financial services providers that are members of the Financial Commission. Financial Commission initially set out to provide a new approach for traders and brokers alike to resolve any issues that arise in the course of trading electronic markets such Foreign Exchange, and then expanded into CFDs and related derivatives, in addition to certifying ICOs and technology platforms used for trading.
November 20th, 2017, leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, Financial Commission, catering to the financial services industry and operated by FinaCom PLC, today announces FX Group as its newest approved Member.
FX Group status as an A-category Member of the Financial Commission took effect on December 11, 2017, following the approval of its membership application by Financial Commission, thus allowing the company and its customers access to a wide range of services and membership benefits including, but not limited to, protection for up to $20,000 per submitted complaint, backed by the Financial Commission’s compensation fund.
Financial Commission provides brokerages and their customers with an unbiased 3rd party mediation platform that helps resolve complaints in instances when parties are unable to directly come to an agreement over disputes.
For approved members and their clients participating in CFDs and foreign exchange (forex) markets, Financial Commission helps facilitate a simpler, swifter resolution process than through typical regulatory channels such as arbitration or local court systems.
FX Group joins a diverse range of brokerages and independent services providers (ISPs) that utilize the services of the Financial Commission and as part of their commitment to their clients while upholding membership requirements.
About FX Group
FX Group is one of the largest Georgian brokers that provides individuals and legal entities with access to forex stock market. The company is equipped with latest programmes and technologies, that give clients an opportunity to trade online without any delays from their offices and homes. The company uses the largest banks of the world as its source of liquidity in order to secure safe trading process for the clients. FX Group operates without any commissions and is oriented on flexible, beneficial environment. FX Group remains available during 24/7
Financial Commission is an independent external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for consumers/traders who are unable to resolve disputes directly with their financial services providers that are members of the Financial Commission. Financial Commission initially set out to provide a new approach for traders and brokers alike to resolve any issues that arise in the course of trading electronic markets such Foreign Exchange, and then expanded into CFDs and related derivatives, in addition to certifying technology platforms used for trading.
December 7, 2017: Financial Commission, a leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization, operated by FinaCom PLC, and serving the online forex and CFD brokerage industry, is pleased to announce a successful participation as an exhibitor at the 2017 Finance Magnates London Summit.
FMLS event in London saw over 2000 attendees, 64 Industry Professional Speakers and over 100 confirmed exhibitors and representatives from hundreds of financial services providers starting from the biggest IBs to top-tier retail brokers, asset managers, technology leaders, banks, hedge funds and regtech start-ups.
Participation in the Finance Magnates London event supports the industry and provides market participants with the chance to learn more about the Financial Commission’s role in the industry.
This includes how the organization is helping its members improve the services they offer to clients using a 3rd party dispute resolution process afforded via membership status and certification services within the Financial Commission.
Our representatives met in person with event delegates and helped answer questions while increasing industry awareness of Financial Commission’s activity.
Commenting about the event participation, Financial Commission Chairman, Peter Tatarnikov said, “We are proud to announce another successful participation in Finance Magnates London Summit and want to thank all our members and delegates at the event that showed support.”
“The Financial Commission has a proven business model for some time already, considering the number of brokers who have joined as members and technology providers who have undergone our certification, thus showing great necessity in services we providing for our clients from the side of Forex market participants.”
Mr. Tatarnikov added: “Our proven approach to remedying complaints and commitment to education and best practices are some of the reasons that significant interest continues to be shown from both brokerages and platform technology developers who see the benefits of joining Financial Commission to enhance their own self-regulatory efforts”.