Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), a Canadian provincial local regulator, has issued a warning notice against forex broker Bristol Financial Offshore, aka Bristol Financial and Bristol Offshore, since the company is targeting local citizens without having the required regulatory authorization.
The regulator has found that at least one British Columbia resident has been offered by Bristol Financial to trade in investment products. The company is not registered to trade in, or advise on, securities or exchange contracts in the Canadian province.
Bristol Financial operates via the website www.bristoloffshore.com. It claims to be based in New York City and Luxembourg. It offers trading in forex currencies, commodities, stocks, and other financial instruments. No information regarding regulation or licensing is available on the broker’s website.
In Canada, financial markets are supervised and regulated by provincial authority bodies. Legislation rules may vary in from province to province, but in each area financial service providers are required to obtain authorization and to register their activities prior to targeting Canadians.
The BCSC, which is in charge of the capital markets in the British Columbia province, warns local citizens to be cautious when choosing financial intermediaries and not to engage in those that are not registered to trade or advice in the district. The regulator issues warnings against unauthorized financial companies on a regular basis and adds unregistered and unauthorized financial service providers that target local residents in an Investment Caution List. The list contains information about entities that are confirmed to engage in fraudulent activities, including foreign brokers not registered in British Columbia which target local citizens.
When engaging with unauthorized and non-regulated brokers, especially blacklisted ones, traders are putting their investments at higher risk. We strongly advise you to only deal with regulated forex brokers, authorized by reputable regulatory bodies like CySec, FCA, and CFTC/NFA, among others.
