FSMA Warns Against 9 Binary Options Brokers

The FMSA, Belgium’s financial regulator, has stepped up their fight against binary options brokers. The company is targeting nine brokers that have unlawfully offered binary options to retail traders in Belgium.

The company requires any company or broker that offers investment products to hold authorization to do so. Belgium has not granted or authorized an investment firm the right to offer binary options in the territory of Belgium.

Binary option brokers engaging in the industry in Belgium without authorization should be avoided.

The FMSA is known as being the leader in the fight against binary option brokers that have refused to allow traders to withdraw their winnings or that force trades on traders. The country has banned all leveraged trading products, including binary options, forex and contracts for differences.

Unregulated brokers have since entered the market, offering their products illegally as many legitimate brokers have ceased operation in the country.

The nine brokers that the FMSA has warned traders against, include:

  1. XFR Financial
  2. Suisse Option
  3. TorOption
  4. FXUnited
  5. Markets Premium
  6. EasyGestions
  7. OneTwoTrade
  8. Tp-Markets
  9. VIP Markets

The agency has found that the above brokers do not comply with Belgium rules and regulations. Investors who have traded with the above companies have not recovered their investment. The FMSA warns that the nine brokers may be engaging in fraud.

Investors are also cautioned against investing in any of the above companies.

The FMSA warns investors to always conduct their own research before trading in binary options. Investors should identify the company, owner and registered office for the brokers. The regulator warns that if it’s difficult to identify the company’s information, it should not be trusted.

Finance Feeds reports that fraudsters continue to target Belgians following the strict laws and regulations of the FMSA. The company reports that many brokers have switched to rare earth scams and diamond scams after leaving the binary options industry.

France is just one European country that has also taken measures against binary options, although the measures taken were not as stringent as Belgium.

The country banned advertising of binary options under the Sapin II law. While the ban on advertising has curbed some companies from promoting their trading vehicle, several other companies continue to advertise illegally in France.

The FMSA has banned several option brokers in the past, including BigOption, Aaoption, City Bank CFD, Finances Capital, Binarynvest, Capital Epargne, Markets Central Investment, Swiss Capital Invest and over a dozen additional brokers.