Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said on Wednesday over-the-counter (OTC) forex broker Ikon Australia, which falls under the regulator’s supervision, has agreed to separate funds from overseas client as is required by the Australian legislation. The move is in response to the ASIC’s request.
The broker has also made amendments to its website and has committed to directly inform overseas clients, as asked by the regulator, that its ASIC license applies for within Australia only. Indeed, its website already has a relevant statement, our check showed.
Currently, Ikon’s operation overseas are provided from offshore and not within Australia and do not fall under its Australian license, thus are not regulated by the ASIC.
According to the regulatory notice, the broker is taking steps towards obtaining Australian clients’ consent to transfer their deposits into a separate client trust account.
Just as little as 0.03% of Ikon’s active clients are Australian. In Australia, financial investment companies, including forex brokers, are forbidden to operate without a local license. A licensee’s client trust account should be used only for financial services covered by its Australian license, even if the entity has operations in other markets.
Ikon Australia offers trading in forex, contracts for difference (CFDs), options, commodities, and futures. It is part of Hong Kong-based holding company Ikon MultiBank Group, which also has subsidiaries licenced by UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), as well as one that partners with the Chinese Financial Government.
Source: ASIC
