The Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC) has today issued a warning to investors about dealing with eight binary options companies including GOptions, Porterfinance, Boss Capital, MaxOptions, Bloombex Options, Citrades, RBoptions and OptionsXO, according to an official statement for the financial markets regulator.
ASIC described that all of the aforementioned entities operate binary options website that offer related trading services yet none of them have appropriate licenses or authorization to do so in Australia.
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The warning comes as ASIC is concerned that these entities are soliciting residents in Australia and marketing their services while purporting to appear as operating lawfully within the country’s regulatory guidelines.
Soliciting in Australia
For example, the regulator noted that each site allows for persons to open a live trading account, including for Australia-based residents, and ASIC was satisfied that this posed risks that residents could suffer detriment due to the lack of regulatory status in Australia from the related firms.
Therefore, ASIC says Australians should avoid dealing with any of these entities until they are appropriately licensed or authorised to operate in Australia.
Numerous attempts had been made by ASIC to contact the aforementioned eight entities yet those attempts were unsuccessful, leading to the warning to help protect the public’s interest.
Romania and Marshall Islands
ASIC listed detailed address and websites for each firm, including aliases or brand names used alongside the entity names and the country of origin or where the firms are domiciled or incorporated.
Omni Capital Ltd, also known as Omni Global Solutions SRL, trading as OptionsXO, had its address listed in Romania and the Marshall Islands.
Zulutoys Limited, trading as RBoptions, and CIT investments Ltd, trading as Citrades, also had the same listed address in the Marshall islands as Omni Capital Ltd. The common address for the three firms appears to be the same because firms may use a local agent for the use of a registered address for mailing purposes even if they have no physical office there.
Commonwealth of Dominica and UK
Bloombex Ltd, trading as Bloombex Options, and Go Trading Technologies Ltd, trading as GOptions, both had the same address listed in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
The additional three firms mentioned in the warning, Changecapital SM Ltd, trading as Max Options, Cheshire Capital Ltd, trading as Boss Capital, Boss Capital, and Oracle Stone Limited, trading as Porter Finance, had addresses across the United Kingdom.
