## British Financial Regulator Expresses Worry About CFDs – iGB
The United Kingdom’s financial overseer, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is carefully watching CFD operators due to persistent worries about risk alerts, due diligence, and anti-money laundering procedures.
After an examination of Plus 500’s customer acquisition technology, the FCA has voiced its displeasure with the company’s methods.
Playtech CEO Mor Weizer expressed astonishment at the FCA’s reaction to Playtech’s unsuccessful attempt to buy Plus 500, stating that the regulatory body was “not at ease” with the transaction.
The FCA’s concerns seem to have spread beyond Plus 500, as the regulatory body has sent a public letter to the chief executives of 100 CFD providers, signaling a heightened level of examination across the retail financial trading sector.
While UK financial watchdogs examined Plus 500’s recruitment practices and Playtech pulled out of their agreement with Plus 500 due to regulatory involvement, Plus 500 has effectively bounced back from these occurrences.
Despite the strain, Plus 500 still reported a pre-tax profit decrease of only 7%, down to $132.9 million, whereas client numbers increased by 20%, actually aiding revenue to rise to $275.6 million.
The business stated it was having a “productive discussion” with the FCA and added that it was not one of the 10 firms recently reviewed.
The review uncovered “several areas of concern.” In a letter to industry leaders, Megan Butler, the FCA’s Executive Director of Supervision – Investment, Wholesale and Specialist, stated that none of the 10 most common ways of finishing suitability assessments met the FCA’s guidance, there were insufficient risk warnings given to clients who failed these assessments, and there were also deficiencies in anti-money laundering controls that managed the higher risks associated with managing high-risk clients.
Most critically, the FCA found that these firms “may not have acted in the best interests of their clients, nor treated them fairly.”
Contracts for difference are a popular financial product aimed at retail customers, closely linked to spread betting.
However, FCA regulations stipulate that firms introducing CFDs to customers must perform appropriateness assessments to ascertain if customers comprehend the hazards associated with such highly leveraged instruments.
Varying degrees of oversight
The correspondence indicates that it seems numerous providers “might lack procedures to evaluate the suitability of CFD trading for prospective clients, which could lead to the company failing to identify clients who are inappropriate for CFDs”.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) risk evaluation protocols for 10 providers were also censured. The FCA suggested that these procedures did not take into account a sufficiently extensive array of factors when determining risk levels, instead “concentrating on jurisdictional risk, which limited their efficacy”.
Martin Pashly, Chief Commercial Officer of data screening provider W2 Global Data, stated that the FCA’s perspective is that AML processes are not “merely checking boxes”. He remarked: “It is no longer adequate to simply conduct KYC or Customer Due Diligence (CDD) when you acquire a new customer.”
“There needs to be ongoing, continuous monitoring using risk-related warning systems.” Similar to gambling, CFD providers need to adopt a “risk-based approach” to pinpoint those who may be at a higher risk. The UK FCA is likely to have more knowledge of the industry in the months ahead.
The chief executive of IG Group, Peter Hetherington, has urged the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to collaborate with other European regulatory bodies to jointly oversee financial trading products. Hetherington believes that if the FCA does not take this step, its regulatory actions will be easily bypassed.
Hetherington told the publication: “The FCA has taken steps to suppress fraudulent operators, but it is powerless against those who have been authorized by other regulators and are able to enter the UK market.”
“Although the FCA is a robust regulator for companies licensed in the UK, other European businesses can still enter the UK market. The worry is that if one of these companies experiences serious problems, the entire industry will be negatively affected.”
The UK regulator might be merely a symbolic figure, which could be positive news for the industry, especially as the binary options trend shows no signs of slowing down. However, this situation could eventually change if the UK votes to leave the EU in June.
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