The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced on Wednesday that it has withdrawn the Investors Compensation Fund (ICF) membership of three companies: Daweda Exchange Ltd, London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd and Felicitas Management Investment Services Ltd.
All of these companies have lost their Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license over the past few years for one reason or the other.
ICF members are entitled to receive fund protection of up to €20,000 protection for each of their clients, which is provided by the Cyprus financial market regulator. The withdrawal of the ICF membership is the result of losing the CIF membership.
“The loss of ICF membership status does not mean loss of rights of covered clients to receive compensation in relation to investment operations carried out until the loss of membership status if the conditions for compensation are fulfilled pursuant to the Directive, nor does it obstruct the initiation of the compensation procedure for covered clients,” the regulator explained.
Non-Compliant Firms
Daweda lost its CIF license in 2020. The company was blamed for onboarding European Union clients under an offshore entity based in the British Virgin Islands without informing them.
The London Capital Group is another controversial firm that is already facing liquidation in the United Kingdom. The Cypriot entity of the company was blamed by the regulator for multiple violations of mandatory compliance requirements, resulting in the withdrawal of its CIF license.
Earlier in January, the Cyprus regulatory withdrew the licenses of SonaFX operator Sonaf Business and Belight Capital Group as none of them were holding CIF licenses anymore. Last year too, many Cyprus financial services companies lost ICF memberships as they were no longer providing regulated services in the jurisdiction.
