The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom's financial industry watchdog, has raised the alarm on advanced forex trading platform, Profit FX.
The regulatory body in a statement released on Monday said that it believes that the platform may be providing financial services or products in the country without its authorization.
The latest warning comes days after the FCA issued a second warning against BubbleXT, a firm it said was not authorized to offer financial services and products in the UK.
According to details shared by the FCA, Profit FX is based in Covent Garden, London.
The FCA explained that almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the country have to be authorized or registered by the regulatory body.
“This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. You will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so you are unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong,” the market supervisor explained in the statement.
The FCA noted that dealing with financial firms that are authorized or registered by the body gives investors "greater protection" if things go wrong.
"Check the Financial Services (FS) Register to ensure they are authorised or registered. It has information on firms and individuals that are, or have been, regulated by us," the regulator added.
‘Renowned STP/ECN Broker’
On its website, Profit FX says it is a limited liability company registered as Profit FX Markets Limited in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The platform offers trading across a range of instruments: forex, metal, indices and energies.
In addition, Profit FX describes itself as a renowned straight through processing (STP) and electronic communications networks (ECN) broker founded in 2018.
Crackdown on Unused Permissions
Meanwhile, the FCA is on a clampdown against unused regulatory permissions granted to brokers and other financial services companies in the United Kingdom.
In a statement in May, the regulator said it will first issue two warnings to the company it believes is not using their regulatory permission.
Afterwards, if such a company fails to take any appropriate action, the FCA said it will cancel or change the granted permission in only 28 days from the first warning.
The financial watchdog said the move will help it to further strengthen its customer protection measures.
However, experts believe that the result of this stricter regulatory move is not one-sided.
