KROUFR, the Russian self-regulatory organization aiming to regulate relationships between clients and retail brokerages, today blacklisted Cyprus-based binary options broker, Interactive Option.
The move follows a number of complaints received from clients of Interactive Option concerning their accounts and funding issues. Interactive Option clients had, on numerous occasions, flagged problems with the company’s payment security features which do not always work, as well as the fact that SMS codes to confirm their transactions were not received. Withdrawal issues were also cited.
Earlier this month the Cypriot watchdog, CySEC , announced a further extension to the suspension of Pegase Capital Ltd’s licence, which owns the binary options firm. CySEC first suspended Pegase Capital’s licence in March, 2016 for violating Cyprus investment laws.
Interactive Option has previously raised concerns with other regulators. On 7 April, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) added the broker to its warning list for soliciting Canadian traders.
KROUFR is a non-profit organisation that seeks to identify unscrupulous companies operating in the financial markets and warn the trading community about the actions of these companies. Interactive Option is the latest broker to be added to KROUFR’s blacklist of companies that exhibit characteristics of investment scams.
The growing pressure on unregulated binary options brokerages continues to be piling up and pressuring the whole industry. Recent events have forced CySEC to accelerate the rollout of its new regulatory framework for binary options companies last week. The stricter requirements are aimed at legitimizing the product as a financial instrument and bringing fraudulent practices to a standstill.
