The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has once again imposed an administrative penalty on binary options broker Banc de Binary. The regulator has decided to impose a fine of EUR 20,000 on the binary options broker.
Half of the sum reflects violations of Article 6 (9) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law. This means that the company has been offering services that are not covered by its CIF license.
The other EUR 10,000 reflect violations of Article 28 (1), which states that: “A CIF must at all times comply with the conditions under which authorisation was granted”. This provision was breached as Banc de Binary failed to inform in due time CySEC about its links to another business entity.
For that matter, the regulator refers to Article 14 of the Law which states that “Where close links exist between the applicant and other persons, the Commission shall grant a CIF authorisation, only if those links do not prevent the effective exercise of its supervisory functions.”
In determining the size of the fine, the regulator took into account that this is not the first such violation by the company and that the watchdog has already sanctioned the broker in relation to the business ties in question. You may recall that in May 2014, CySEC slapped a EUR 10,000 fine on the broker for concealing information about its business ties.
Earlier this year – in February 2015, CySEC also notified the public of an administrative penalty (this time worth EUR 125,000) imposed on Banc de Binary for breaching Cypriot investment laws.
To view the original announcement (in Greek) about the latest fine, click here.