Recent months have seen a number of regulatory changes in the Forex and CFDs trading industry. One of the new requirements which has alarmed a number of brokers is related to their mandate to supervise the content of affiliate websites.
After starting their new marketing agency Contentworks earlier this year, former easyMarkets employees Charlotte Day and Niki Nikolau are launching a brand new product. Their efforts have focused on delivering content which is compliant with existing European regulations.
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For brokers that do not have the resources to commit to constant monitoring of their affiliate partners, the new solution represents a viable alternative. With the content of emails, presentations, landing pages, banners, ebooks, etc. being closely scrutinized by CySEC and other European national regulators, an adequate solution for regulatory compliance is crucial for the affiliate business to survive.
Director of Contentworks and former FX content manager Charlotte Day explains: “Affiliate marketing used to be easy. Brokers knew what affiliates were doing to get new business but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t our responsibility because we were only regulated on our own brand. Off brand content, non-compliant claims and questionable advertising methods by affiliates was no problem as long as we got new clients.”
After the release of the latest circular by CySEC last week, which is touching upon practices used by affiliates, brokers are looking for ways to monitor content that is generated by third parties. The additional resources which brokers would have to commit to the effort makes compliance a costly effort and affiliate websites which have the talent to monitor their content from a compliance standpoint are very few.
Alternatives for Affiliates
The solution by Contentworks Agency aims to provide compliant content for broker affiliates. Commenting on the launch of the new product, the agency’s Director, Niki Nikolau, says: “We support CySEC's new ruling and welcome tighter regulation in the industry, however we do understand the potential problems that brokers will face. We have previously pioneered successful content bundles for affiliates which is why we know it works.”
"These bundles include unique web text, blogs, landing page content and banner text which is compliantly written, approved in house and distributed to top tier affiliates,” Nikolau explains.
With the new regulatory requirements for affiliates the business is becoming much more difficult. Broker partners have to retain competitiveness against other affiliates, while walking a fine line in the regulatory landscape.
While the solution which Contentworks is providing would be in full compliance with regulatory requirements, affiliate websites still need to differentiate themselves from competitors. That said, for websites that are keen to continue operating in the industry, the alternative is rather expensive - to get a compliance officer who can oversee their marketing materials.
