Ontario's regulator is taking cue from British Colombia, warning investors about allegedly Toronto-based binary options brokerage RBOptions. According to Ontario Securities Commission's (OCS) website, the company has not been permitted to do business as www.rboptions.com and is not registered to engage in the business of trading in securities or advising anyone with respect to investing in, buying or selling securities.
The structure of the Canadian regulatory framework is based on separate regulators operating in each of its 13 different provinces. The latest warning comes only a couple of months after British Colombia's Securities Commission (BCSC) cracked down on several binary options brands, including the above mentioned RBOptions.
The company proudly released a press release back in September stating that it is the only binary options brokerage operating from within Canada - a move that has apparently attracted the attention of local authorities. While the company does not claim on its website that it is regulated, a warning from another of Canada's 13 provincial regulators was only a matter of time.
The only surprise about this announcement is that since the company claims to be based in Toronto, it might have been prudent for the home province OSC to issue a warning first. With the likelihood of binary options websites being regulated in Canada being far fetched, we can only expect further similar announcements in the near future.
