For the last year, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has been making a list of personae non gratae brokers in order to keep unauthorized companies out of the Canadian province. This week, the two companies that are being shown the door are Binary Brokerz and TorOption, both of which claim to have headquarters within the UK.
Binary Brokerz claims to have its home base in London, England, while TorOption’s official website claims an office in Glasgow, Scotland. The BCSC has released statements on its website, noting that it became aware of and banned both companies because “[British Columbia (BC) residents were] able to open a trading account with TorOption [and Binary Brokerz]”. This statement may be interpreted as the BCSC watching Online Trading companies trying to access Canadian clients like a hawk.
"Many websites claiming to offer binary options are simply vehicles for fraud."
In an interview with Finance Magnates earlier this week, Doug Muir, Director of Enforcement at BCSC, said: "Many websites claiming to offer binary options are simply vehicles for fraud. [They]..have no interest in registration or Compliance with securities law, because they are not conducting any real business."
Mr. Muir has also acknowledged Canada's strict treatment of brokers, stating: "Any application to be registered to sell binary options would be decided on a case-by-case basis." In Canada, binary options are considered illegal in all provinces, which answers any questions about bans following the opening of one account.
TorOption has already been banned - by the Manitoba Securities Commission (MSC) only last month - so being banned by the BCSC is not a novel experience for this broker. The Canadian watchdogs are running a tight ship, and attempting to infiltrate it is not an easy task.
If TorOption and Binary Brokerz have their eyes set on Canadian traders, they may need to think of something better than a Trojan horse.
