The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced on Tuesday the withdrawal of the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) license of London Capital Group (Cyprus) Ltd., citing multiple violations of mandatory compliance requirements.
According to the regulator, the broker failed to appoint at least two people as directors. In addition, it "did not establish adequate policies and procedures to ensure its compliance, including the compliance of its managers and employees, with its obligations under the Law, as it did not ensure that its compliance officer, who is responsible for the compliance function and for any reporting."
The decision to withdraw the license of the broker was taken by the Cypriot regulator on June 14 in a meeting.
As a result of the withdrawal, the broker now has to wrap up its operations under the CIF license, by closing the opened positions and return the clients’ funds, including profits. Moreover, it has to examine and resolve all client complaints.
Additionally, the broker has to “ensure it does not provide investment and ancillary services, other than those that are necessary for the completion of the pending transactions on behalf of the Company and its clients, as per their instructions.”
A Troubled Broker
The United Kingdom-based London Capital Group Holdings plc has been in troubled waters since 2018 and the UK business appointed liquidators last year, initiating the process of a business wind up.
Though the brokerage continued to operate through its Cypriot license, that entity too was flagged by the local regulator earlier. The final decision of the license withdrawal came after CySEC imposed a penalty of €40,000 on the broker for several other compliance violations.
