Binary Options Industry News: Regulation is Needed
Italy: Personal Lawsuits against Brokers
As reported on ForexMagents, the preliminary investigations directed Italian ISP’s to block a large number of binary options brokers from appearing in Italy, including a few well known brokers (For the full article click here). According to Italian reports, the Italian regulator Consob claims that binary options closely could resemble gambling and are not in compliance with Italian financial rules due to the way the product is presented. Consob also claims offering Binary Options services requires approved EU regulation, which were not fully received yet.
This is not the end of this saga. ThatSucks.com (former BinaryOptionsThatSuck.com) reporters found out that not only these companies were banned from Italia, now they are being personally sued. The public prosecutor of Rome has decided to go out on a crusade in personally sue the companies managers for ignoring the Italian’s regulation rules. What will be the end of this saga, we don’t know. One thing is for sure – very soon only regulated brokers could offer binary options services, perfect solution for this growing industry.
24Option Decides to Delay Regulation in Cyprus
Speaking of regulation, the banking crisis in Cyprus continues to collect victims as 24Option have announced their CySec regulation will be held for a while. The leading binary options broker told thatsucks.com reporter they are uncertain about the situation in Cyprus and they are looking for other European regulations. Our source told us one of the possibilities is withdrawing the request for CySec regulation and beginning a similar process on other EU nations such as Malta or the UK.
The banking crisis in Cyprus emerged just a few weeks before 24Option’s completing the regulation process, bad timing both for the Binary Options industry and 24Option. “Traders would have to keep patience until the whole Cyprus crisis clears; we are not willing to take any risks when it comes to client’s money. We are looking at few possibilities (as mentioned above, i.e.), but his doesn’t mean we are throw with Cyprus”, this according to our source.
StockPair Continues Process of CySec
On the contrary, StockPair, BOTS favorite pick this year, would continue their regulation in Cyprus; “we believe the situation in Cyprus is stable at the moment. We’ll proceed with the CySec regulation, but will also look at other options”, says StockPair’s VP Marketing, “we expect full regulation within a couple of months”. Another option for StockPair is beginning process of regulation in Japan, one of the world’s leading centers of trading both Forex and Binary Options.
Big in Japan?
Last year the Japanese FSA sent warnings to brokers to suspend the marketing of new binary brands until the regulators finish working on the binary options regulation laws. According to reports, the JFSA is in the final stages of creating its rules for new regulation. Could this be answer for the 24Option, StockPair and more brokers uncertain about the CySec Regulation?
Binary options in Japan are a very hot product and some brokers report a few thousands of new deposits in one month, which makes Japan a key market for binary options brokers and traders. The local market reaches much higher numbers of traders compared to many EU countries, as Japanese traders are great fans of Forex and Binary Options Trading. The local regulator is a world leading pioneer in financial products regulation, therefore there’s no secret many brokers seek JFSA regulation both for working locally and complying international rules. On the other hand, JFSA regulation will ban 60 seconds options trading for regulated JFSA brokers. This might preclude some EU based brokers from attaining Japanese regulation.