The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has settled with Goldenburg Group Limited, the operator of retail brokerage brand, TopForex, for €270,000 for possible regulatory violations.
According to Monday’s statement released by the regulator, the brokerage has possibly failed to meet several compulsory regulations, for which it has to agree to pay the monetary settlement.
Additionally, the Cypriot watchdog stated that the settlement was reached for possible operational violations between January 2018 and October 2020.
CySEC elaborated that the possible non-compliances were regarding the organizational requirements, along with some possibility of conflicts of interest. Moreover, it flagged the Forex broker for the failure of assessment of appropriateness to clients and a few other violations as well. These are the standard violations for which the watchdog has flagged and settled with multiple brokerage operators.
“CySEC...may reach a settlement agreement regarding any violation or possible violation, act or omission for which there is reasonable ground to believe that is in breach of the provisions of legislation under the regulatory remit of CySEC,” the notice noted.
The Group Operating Multiple Brands
Goldenburg Group gained a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license in July 2014 and is running multiple platforms with it. Some of its CySEC-approved domains are www.goldenburggroup.eu, www.topforex.com, www.toptrader.eu, www.fxglobal.com, www.tradecentrum.com and a few others.
This is not the first scuffle of the brokerage operator with the market watchdog, as, in 2019, it faced a fine of €170,000 for multiple violations.
Cyprus remained the preferred jurisdictions for brokerages to enter the European Union markets due to the regulatory cost-effectiveness. However, other regulators in the 27-country bloc are raising concerns with the many compliance violations on the part of Cypriot firms.
