France’s AMF Exposes Further Illegal Investment Services Providers

France’s financial markets regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), on Wednesday warned the public against unauthorized brokerage firms, by adding four websites to its list of companies illegally providing investment services to domestic clients.

The list of providers that were published includes the following domain names:

• https://www.investissement.strategie-business.com/
• https://uniondelor.fr/
• https://www.101-carats.com/
• https://www.brookfield99.com/

The AMF said that the full list of unauthorized sites such as those described above is available on the regulator’s website. It also emphasized that these domains may change very quickly and that the list is not meant to be exhaustive.

As France’s watchdog remains vigilant over brokerage firms operating in the country, the AMF has recently added further clarification to the scope of its issued Sapin II act, which restricts public advertising of risky financial products like Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term, CFDs, and binary options.

The regulator has been quite active in policing trading activities and in addition to such warnings it announced back in February that it is prohibiting the advertising and distribution of cryptocurrency derivatives.

The well-known details about the full advertising ban on certain offerings are all in place, but the update notes that promoting cryptocurrency derivatives demands that brokers that are offering such products must comply with a set of regulations.

In addition, the AMF requires brokerage firms to seek approval from the regulator prior to offering such contracts and adhere to good conduct.

Any financial intermediary offering or recommending investments must be on the list of financial institutions authorized to do business in France, as can be verified via www.regafi.fr. A list of authorized intermediaries in additional investor advisor categories can be accessed at orias.fr/search.