The administrative court of Cyprus has rejected a judicial review case filed against the nation’s regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC ), by Fidelisco Capital Markets Ltd (Fidelisco).
The case concerned the CySEC’s imposition of a €15,000 fine on Fidelisco in 2015 for violations of certain sections of the local Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law.
The Cypriot court rejected the broker’s initial appeal and upheld CySEC's decision to impose a fine on the grounds that Fidelisco had admitted the infringement in the proceedings before the watchdog and was therefore unable to challenge the legality of the fine.
“The Administrative Court, according to the decision of 20 August 2019, dismissed the Company’s Application after finding that CySEC’s search and justification in the case were adequate and without any legal or factual error. According to the Court, CySEC operated in full compliance with the Law, taking into account the correct facts and acting lawfully,” the CySEC explains in a statement.
The case background
Operating since 2013, Fidelisco Capital Markets Ltd (Fidelisco) is authorized by several regulators, including CySEC, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). At the time, the company has mainly focused on physical terminals offering binary options, including the now-defunct brand 365Trading.com.
In relation to the fine, CySEC stated that since November 2014, the brokerage firm operated a branch (trade room) in the Cypriot city of Paralimni providing investment services. However, Fidelisco informed the regulator in advance that it plans to establish a representative office only, instead of a branch that requires to disclose require legal information as regards this establishment.
CySEC explained the fine was relatively light considering the fact that that the branch in Paralimni terminated its operations and had not previously committed a similar violation. It added that Fidelisco is a regulated CIF and has to comply, therefore with its regulations in order to maintain its trading license, which enables the broker to offer its services across Europe.
