One of the biggest regulated binary options brokers, EZ Trader, has been fined by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC ) according to a regulatory announcement. The financial industry watchdog has taken the administrative decision to fine the parent company of the brokerage, WGM Services.
The company is behind the EZ Trader and the EZInvest brands. The fine is related to an incident which occurred last year, when the company’s license was suspended by CySEC for a period of about a month, since the company continued to provide its services without any authorization to do so.
At the time, the Cypriot regulator detailed that WGM Services violated a number of points of the securities law related to safeguarding of clients’ funds, capital adequacy of investment firms and large exposures. No details were provided by the regulator when a month after the suspension, the license of the binary options brokerage’s parent company was restored.
According to the securities law in Cyprus, a CIF authorized company has to suspend its services if the regulator suspends its license. The local law states that a CIF is not allowed to provide the services to which the license suspension is related until further notice.
Both subsidiaries of WGM Services, EZ Trader and EZInvest, which provide retail trading services are operating as normal.
