Another piece of information from U.S. regulators confirms the thesis that IBFX was actually under pressure to exit the U.S. foreign Exchange market. After yesterday’s CFTC announcement about the settlement related to a violation of minimum capital requirements by IBFX, today the National Futures Association (NFA) issued an announcement that the firm was forced out of the market.
The NFA ordered the retail foreign exchange dealer (RFED) subsidiary of TradeStation, IBFX, to withdraw from its membership with the regulator. TradeStation, which itself is owned by Japanese Monex Group has undertaken some management changes in recent weeks as it consolidates its business after selling its retail foreign exchange accounts in the U.S. to OANDA.
The company has also been forced to permanently withdraw as a swap dealer. The regulator has based its decision on the multiple violation of capital requirements which IBFX has committed. The U.S. CFTC yesterday announced that the firm settled charges with the regulator and agreed to pay a $1 million penalty.
The NFA's Business Conduct Committee (BCC) reached its decision after a complaint was filed on November 2nd, 2015, and submitted a settlement offer to IBFX.
According to the information in the document, IBFX has allegedly failed to comply with the Chief Compliance Officer requirements set out by the regulator and failed to implement an adequate Risk Management program.
Following its compliance issues in the U.S., the company must have ascertained that the costs associated with running its Australian operations outweigh the benefits and decided to part with those clients by also selling them to OANDA.
