Malaysia’s financial regulator has backlisted yet another group of FX and cryptocurrency websites, citing their brands are not authorised to operate in the country.
Firstly, the Securities Commission (SC) said Midtou Global, and its associated brands MFG Global and Midtou Global Financial, is carrying out unlicensed capital market activities. Midtou Financials is the Forex trading arm of Indonesia-based Midtou Global Financial Group, which is regulated by Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory, often abbreviated as BAPPEBTI.
However, Midtou’s Indonesian authorisation does not entail passporting rights to promote its products in Malaysia.
Elsewhere, the Securities Commission (SC) has also red-flagged a digital-asset investment firm called ‘Actionnode’ and put the company on its caution list of unlicensed operators.
Binance, FintechFX also Blacklisted
The watchdog advises its citizens not to make use of such services nor to make any investment with companies or individuals that are not approved or licensed by the SC.
In July, the southeast Asian regulator issued a similar warning against Binance, FintechFX and other firms operating various investment services in the country. It said these platforms are not authorized to operate in the country nor subject to its regulatory oversight.
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Anyone who engages in regulated activities without a valid license or registration from the SC is committing an offence under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007. If convicted, they may be punished with imprisonment of up to ten years and fined.
Further, the new list includes offshore firms that offer payment and Fintech services, which comes at a time when Malaysia is bracing for the arrival of digital banks, with up to five licenses to be issued by the country’s central bank once the regulation for the industry is in place.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is now working towards releasing regulation guidelines for virtual-bank operation in Malaysia, dubbed ‘the Exposure Draft on Licensing Framework for Digital Banks’.
