Broker Updates During Dec. 21-27

Vietnam

Official Complaint

1. Massachusetts authorities file complaint against Robinhood for market “gamification”. According to it, the viral trading platform Robinhood was “falling short of the fiduciary standard” by exposing a largely inexperienced client base to “unnecessary trading risks”. This is because of the way that Robinhood markets its service to its base – according to the complaint it “gamifies it”.

Approval Extension

2. FCA allows crypto companies pending approval extension of grace period. The UK, which recently banned the provision of cryptocurrency CFDs to retail clients, has allowed crypto-dealing companies that have submitted documentation for the acquisition of a license and are pending approval to continue providing their services well into next year – up to the 9th of July.

Broker Fined

3. FCA imposes £8.96 million fine on Charles Schwab UK. The regulator fined the broker for failing to protect the assets of retail customers.

Thailand

License Annulled

4. The Central Bank of Russia has annulled the Forex dealer license of PSB-Forex, the FX subsidiary of Promsvyazbank, nearly four years after the launch of its operations that have been plagued with weak financial performance.

Scam Warning

5. FCA today sounded an alarm about a fraudulent clone website that was impersonating Plus500, the Israeli-based but London-stock market listed CFD provider. The watchdog warned investors to watch out for other websites that claim their services were developed or authorized by regulated brands to lure and possibly scam them.

Japan

Transaction Data

6. Monthly Statistical Bulletin on Over-The-Counter(OTC) Retail FX Margin trading Nov. 2020

Number of OTC Retail FX Margin Trading Operators: 52 (Nov.30, 2020)

Volume: 627.5682 trillion JPY

Open Positions(as of the end of the month): 7.647 trillion JPY

Short: 3.0528 trillion JPY

Long: 4.5942 trillion JPY

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Crypto Promotion

7. Broker Global Alliance launches a unique “Crypto Boom” promotion, according to which the broker offers to buy Bitcoin at the rate of $ 10,000, almost 2 times lower than the market price.

Reputation Restored

8. A representative of Grand Capital demanded Roskomnadzor to block online resources that disseminated false information about the forex broker. The court delivered a verdict that the information about the forex broker posted on the websites and on the YouTube channel does not correspond to reality. But at the same time, Roskomnadzor made it clear to representatives of Grand Capital that it wont “punish” the violators.