Japan’s FSA blacklists binary options broker TRAOP

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) this morning published an updated version of its “Black List” of companies that offer investment services to Japanese clients but lack the necessary authorization for such activities.

The latest addition to the “Black List” is TRAOP (an abbreviation for “Trade Option”), a company that markets its services via www.traop.com. The website is targeted at English-speaking and Japanese-speaking investors willing to trade binary options, so the Japanese financial watchdog obviously has a point in looking more closely at this business.

top_titleThe website of the company provides no information about a physical address but says only that “Traop.com is a trading platform operated by TRAOP Secretary Office(“The Company”) located in Seychelles and operated globally.”

No information on any licenses and registration with any regulators is presented.

Japanese financial laws treat binary options as financial trading instruments and require that all binary options brokers which offer services to Japanese clients obtain necessary authorization from Japan’s regulators. The requirement applies also to overseas binary options brokers that service Japanese investors.

To view the updated “Black List”, click here.

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