Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
Plus500 (LON:PLUS), one of the major forex and CFD brokers, said it has reached a €550 000 settlement agreement with Belgium’s regulator, the Financial Services Markets Authority (FSMA).
The settlement was reached in the context of the public offering of investment instruments, including CFDs, by Plus500 in Belgium. The company, however, notes that the agreement does not mean admission of guilt, but rather a demonstration of respect for the authority of FSMA and to reach “a swift and final clearance of the jurisdictional process”. “The Company reaffirms that it does not have any regulatory restrictions in any of the Group’s regulated markets”, Plus500 said in conclusion.
From the curt statement it does not become entirely clear what Plus500’s alleged violation was or when it was committed, but it is fairly safe to assume that it is related to FSMA’s ban on offering to retail clients of trading in CFDs, forex and binary options introduced last summer.
Plus500 is licensed by five regulators: New Zealand’s FMA, Israel’s ISA, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The broker operates in the European Economic Area (EU member states, plus Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland), Gibraltar, Australia and certain other jurisdictions across Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Its subsidiaries include Plus500UK, Plus500AU, Plus500CY and Plus500IL.