London-listed Plus500 (LON: PLUS) has gained a new license from the Estonian regulator, the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA). It will allow the company to operate as an investment firm and offer investment and ancillary services.
The new license was granted last week to a locally formed entity, Plus500EE AS.
“Based on the issued activity license, the company has the right to receive and forward orders related to securities, execute orders related to securities in the name or for the account of the client and trade in securities for its own account,” the FSA explained.
“As ancillary services to investment services, a company has the right to hold and manage the client's securities and to provide services related to foreign exchange if they are related to the provision of investment services.”
Key Appointments Were Made
Plus500 has appointed Sigrid Aljas as the Chief Executive Officer of the new Estonian entity. She is a trained lawyer and was previously with Admirals (formerly Admiral Markets), another Estonian broker, as the Head of Compliance. In addition, she spent a considerable amount of time in the early years of her career with the FSA, the Estonian financial markets regulator.
Apart from Aljas, Kerli Lõhmus joined the Management Board of Plus500’s Estonian entity.
Plus500 was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Israel. It is one of the well-known forex and contracts for differences (CFDs) brokers and holds licenses across several global jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Australia, South Africa, Seychelles and Singapore.
Currently, the broker is operating in Estonia by passporting its Cypriot license. However, it is not known when it will kick-start its operations using the freshly gained Estonia license.
