Belgian financial regulator, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), has published a warning on its website informing the public about the services provided by several binary options brands. According to the authorities, the list of companies is offering investment instruments involving high risk in the country, without complying with Belgian financial legislation. The companies mentioned are OBmarkets, Good Option, Ubinary, Triumph Option, Bo Bank/Analysis Finance and BforBroker.
The public announcement states that the companies are not authorised to offer investment services in the country and do not provide their clients an FSMA approved prospectus, which is an essential prerequisite to offer investment products within Belgium.
According to the FSMA's statement, binary options are speculative in nature and very risky. The regulator has already issued a detailed warning about the abovementioned financial investment product in the beginning of May, outlining that investors are at risk of losing the entire sum which they have invested and the chances of losing are bigger than those of winning. It has also warned against several binary options brokerages in the past.
In its May warning the FSMA also informed the public that shorter maturity contracts raise the risks of loss and that the investment product resemembles a game of chance. According to the FSMA statement on the matter, after a binary option has been purchased it cannot be sold before its expiration, hence the Liquidity of the instruments is very low.
The Belgian regulator opposes responding to any sort of solicitations for similar financial services or public offerings of investment instruments provided by the abovementioned companies and advises the public against transferring money to any accounts these companies might mention.
