France’s financial markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), today warned the public against unauthorized binary options firms by adding ten websites to its list of companies illegally providing services to domestic clients.
The list of providers that were published includes the following domain names:
- www.agenda-invest.com
- www.financial-futures-ltd.com
- www.gmsa-investments.com
- www.group-investment.com
- www.labastilleandpartners.com
- www.lepartenairefinancier.com
- www.marketoptions.com
- www.owpremium.com
- www.swissxm.com
- www.tp-markets.com
The AMF said that the full list of unauthorized sites such as those described above is available on the regulator’s website, and emphasized that these domains may change very quickly and that the list is not meant to be exhaustive.
The regulator has been quite active in policing binary options and in addition to such warnings it announced back in January that all electronic advertisement of forex and binary options in France will be banned. Companies will still be able to offer CFDs (contracts for difference) provided that they meet certain requirements.
Furthermore, the AMF recommends that traders seeking to invest in France do so only with financial institutions authorized to do business in the country. 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, as can be verified via www.regafi.fr, and a list of authorized intermediaries in additional investor advisor categories can be accessed at orias.fr/search.
