Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
It seems that Netherlands is following the steps of France and Belgium and is planning to ban the advertising of trading in binary options and some CFDs, which the local regulator Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has dubbed “toxic investment products for consumers”.
According to the publication on AFM’s site, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in parliament that consultations between the ministry and the regulator are already underway.
In AFM’s view, stepping up the protection of consumers against the marketing of providers of “toxic investments” is a step in the right direction, as it often involves financial instruments with a large leverage resulting in considerable losses. Furthermore, the coming into effect of the new EU financial regulations MiFID II in January 2018 will make it possible to impose stricter requirements on high-risk investment products for consumers.
“We consider it very important to introduce an advertising ban on binary options and other toxic investment products”, said Merel van Vroonhoven, chair of the AFM Executive Board. “Advertising for these investments entices consumers with the prospect of earning money fast, but it is actually the case that you can easily lose all of the money you have put in” In accordance with the advice issued by the AFM to the Minister, it is being assessed how the advertising ban could be structured and to which investment products it should apply.
Earlier this year France’s financial regulator, the AMF, announced it is starting consultations on a proposal to ban the advertising of “highly speculative and risky financial contracts“ to the general public in France. The text is included in the draft of the so-called Sapin 2 bill. Consultations are open till September 30.
Belgium followed suit and announced it is banning the public marketing (distribution) of Forex, CFDs, and Binary options among Belgian retail clients from 18 August 2016.