French Watchdog Updates List of Unauthorized Binary Options Brokers

France’s financial market regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has updated its periodic list of websites that “offer binary options trading, for which no authorized investment services provider could be clearly identified.” The new list supersedes the previously published iteration on September 24, 2014.

The AMF recommends binary options customers to open accounts “only with financial institutions authorized to do business in France.” The AMF also warns market participants that “any unauthorized intermediaries run the risk of criminal sanctions” and advises against “responding to offers from any broker on the published lists.”

Any financial intermediary offering or recommending investments must be on the list of financial institutions authorized to do business in France, according to the regulator.

The AMF says it is once again warning retail investors against brokers because they are carrying "aggressive internet advertising campaigns for binary option trading, announcing very high yields in very short periods of time." The regulator has added 34 new websites to its already long list of 189 binary options domains.