Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) said on Friday multi-asset brokerage Glestimon Management Ltd. has renounced its Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license.
As of 31 March, 2016, the brokerage is no longer licensed and regulated by the CySEC and cannot provide financial or ancillary services. The regulator gave the broker three months from that date to settle its obligations arising from the license relapse, during which it remains under the Cypriot watchdog’s supervision.
Glestimon Management, operating via www.glestimon.com, obtained a CIF license in mid-May 2014. It did not become clear why the broker has decided to say goodbye to its CySEC license. According to the regulatory notice, the renouncement was based on a CySEC law which states that a CIF authorization will lapse if “a CIF expressly renounces the authorization”.
Under the Cypriot regulatory framework, financial service providers are not allowed to lawfully operate in Cyprus unless they hold a license by the CySEC or the relevant authorities in any other EU member state. A CySEC license, on its part, provides access to the rest of the EU markets.
Although Glestimon Management relapsed its license in late March, it still states on its website that it is a CIF licensed by the CySEC. Nothing indicates that the broker is no longer authorized by the Cypriot regulator.
The broker offers trading in options, futures, swaps, forward rate agreements and any other derivative contracts relating to securities, currencies, interest rates or yield.
Earlier this week, the CySEC said forex broker Vinson Financials had also renounced its CIF license. Although it has granted several CIF licenses since the beginning of 2016 – Avus Capital (aka Trading 212), G.S.E Golden Sky Europe Ltd., Spot Trading S.T. Ltd., Magic Compass Ltd., and Lydya Financial Ltd., the CySEC has been harsh on some forex and binaries brokers and has suspended the licenses of many. In some cases, suspension turned to withdrawal. For instance forex and binary options broker Pegase Capital, trading as Interactive Options, renounced its CIF license after nearly three months of license suspension, during which it was not allowed to provide services.
Meanwhile, the regulator revoked the license of forex broker Falcon Brokers just a few months after it suspended it, and withdrew the license of binaries broker Trademarker, operating under the brands SkyFX and Capital Option.
The Cypriot financial regulator provides two types of CIF licenses – limited and full. A limited license allows an entity to execute orders on behalf of clients, but not on its own account, while full license allows an entity to act on both its own behalf and that of clients.
Source: CySEC
