Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has published a Board decision from end-September to fine XFR Financial, the parent company of the forex broker XTrade a total of €225 000 for a number of regulatory violations.
The largest portion of the fine, €70 000, is for providing investment advice without having the proper authorization to do so. Three fines, of €40 000 each, are imposed for failing to act fairly and honestly in accordance with its clients’ best interests in granting trading bonuses, misleading and unclear marketing communications and failing to ask clients for all necessary information on their trading competence and not warning them that some instruments are not suitable for them.
There is also a €15 000 fine for not providing adequate and clear information the risks of trading and two €10 000 fines for faulty internal operational manual and lack of proper procedures for detection of risk of failure.
In deciding upon the fines, CySEC has taken into consideration that XTrade has taken measures to remedy the violations, will not grant bonuses to clients without their consent and has not committed similar violations in the past.
XTrade holds licenses from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) as Xtrade Europe, the Belize International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) as Xtrade.BLZ and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as Xtrade.AU. In July the broker joined Russia’s self-regulatory organization NAFD (former CRFIN) and said it will apply for a Russian license.
Recently Xtrade also obtained a license from South Africa’s Financial Services Board.
Xtrade offers trading in forex, commodities, indices, shares and CFDs on its proprietary platform Xtrader Pro. Its European head office is in Cyprus, but the contact numbers are from the UK. It is active in some of the EU countries, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Not long ago Xtrade got in the trouble with the ASIC over suspicions of improper handling of client money and with the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) for accepting as clients British Columbia residents, without having the proper license to do so.
Hong Kong’s regulator, the SFC, also put XTrade on the list of brokers targeting local residents, without a proper license.
konrad hajder
is it possible to get the money back from them?
Henry Hughes
Perhaps you should contact the CySEC and see if they can help you.