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New Zealand’s regulator, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has added two forex brokers to its list of “businesses to be wary of”. One of them is the Trade24 forex broker and the other – Ares Forex. Both of them, according to FMA, are not properly licensed to provide financial services in the country.
The warning on Trade24 comes just weeks after Belize’s International Financial Services Commission (IFSC), has issued a warning that Trade24 has forged its Belize license. Now the FMA warns members of the public not to invest in Trade24 Investments Limited.
When SMN last checked, the site claimed the broker was established in 2007 in Switzerland and had offices in Zurich, London and Paris. Now it only provides an address in Zurich and has removed the fake Belize regulation claims.
The broker informs its clients that some of the credit card transactions might go through the company Trade24 Services, a company with a business address in a residential building in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. A quick check revealed that the company is listed in UK’s Companies House registry, with the same Sofia address for correspondence and was headed by one Jacob Kaminski, a citizen of the UK. The business address provided is in the UK, but according to the British registry, Trade24 Services has been dissolved on January 19, 2016.
Trade24 offers trading in forex, CFDs, stocks and commodities via the MetaTrader 4 platform. Its site has versions in English, Polish, Bulgarian, Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish and German.
The broker also provides a long list of awards in various categories, including “best director”, “best customer service”, “most transparent forex broker”, etc. stretching all the way back to 2012.
A quick SMN check revealed that there are several discussions and complaints that Trade24 is a scam broker and traders cannot withdraw their funds. According to various user forums, throughout 2015, Trade24 Services has had addresses on the Seychelles, in London and Cyprus.
On its site Ares Forex claims it’s owner, Ares FCL Services Limited is entered in New Zealand’s financial service providers list and indeed it is, but there are different types of licenses. The broker claims it is “registered to provide the following financial services: Keeping, investing, administering, or managing money, securities, or investment portfolios on behalf of other persons, Changing foreign currency.”
The FMA, however, is concerned that Ares Forex implies it is approved or licensed by the New Zealand to trade derivatives, which it is not.
Arex Forex offers trading in forex, CFD’s, precious metals and indices on the MetaTrader 4 platform.