FCA | FinTelegram News

Category: FCA

August 20, 2022

Unusual Move: UK Regulator Apologizes For Supervision Failures In Premier FX Case!

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) admitted to some supervision failures that led to customers losing money in the collapse of the authorized payment processor Premier FX in 2018. The Regulator had been investigating complaints concerning its actions in the run-up to the Premier FX collapse. Of the 31 allegations against the regulator, the FCA has upheld five, including its decision to reauthorize Premier FX in May 2018, three months before the company was forced into administration.

August 17, 2022

Crypto.com Receives Regulatory Approval In The United Kingdom!

Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com announced today its UK entity FORIS DAX UK LIMITED had received regulatory approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a cryptoasset business. The UK entity is led by US citizen Antonio Alvarez Lorenzo, Briton John Nicolas Charteris, and Brazilian co-founder and group CFO Rafael Melo, who is also listed as a controlling person. FORIS DAX MT LIMITED already received a Class 3 Virtual Financial Assets Service Provider license from the MFSA in Malta.

August 8, 2022

UK FCA Approved E-Money Institution Viola Whilst OneCoin Investigations Against Its Founder!

On 21 December 2021, following an FCA application, a UK Court made a special administration order to the FCA-regulated e-Money Institution (EMI) Viola Money (Europe) Limited, established by Christopher Hamilton via the Maltese Viola Group Holdings Limited. Law enforcement investigators see Hamilton as one of the key people in the OneCoin crypto fraud scheme, who allegedly laundered more than $100 million for crypto queen Ruja Ignatova. The U.S. has requested his extradition.

August 2, 2022

Update On The FCA-Regulated Latvian PaysTree And Its Network!

In May 2022, FinTelegram published the initial report on the FCA-regulated e-Money Institution PaysTree and its network of companies and individuals. PaysTree and the network are controlled by Latvian citizens. One of the FCA-registered agents of PaysTree is the Hawex Group, which is allegedly controlled by iPayTotal founder Ruchi Rathor and her team. According to the UK Companies House PaysTree is controlled by the Swiss citizen Anselm Oskar Schmucki. Here is another update.

July 25, 2022

Urgent Warning Against Unauthorized Fund Recovery Scheme Safe Claim

Fund recovery scams are among the worst scams ever and harm the already harmed victims once again. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned against the Safe Claims fund recovery scheme allegedly operated by the now defunct Safe Claims Ltd, operated by Polish citizens, is targeting mainly Polish-speaking victims in the United Kingdom. Please stay far away and protect your money, data, and mental health.

July 8, 2022

SFC CEO Ashley Alder Appointed As New Chair of the UK FCA

HM Treasury has announced the appointment of Ashley Alder as the new Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Ashley is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, a role he has held since 2011. Ashley also chairs the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and sits on the Financial Stability Board's Plenary and its Steering Committee.

June 28, 2022

The Vanished ZoomGlobalFX Broker And Its Legacy

In January 2022 FinTelegram reported a warning from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) against ZoomGlobalFX (https://zoomglobalfx.com). The website claimed that the offshore entity Raw Trading Ltd, regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA), would be the operator. However, this entity is part of the ASIC and CySEC-regulated IC Markets group. Sometime after our report, the ZoomGlobalFX broker scheme vanished into the dark of the Internet.

June 24, 2022

FCA Fines Ghana International Bank A Discounted £5.8m For Anti-Money Laundering Failures!

The UK FCA has fined Ghana International Bank Plc (GHIB) £5,829,900 for poor anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls over its correspondent banking activities. GHIB provided correspondent banking services to overseas banks allowing them to provide products and services they would not otherwise be able to, including cross-border payments. The FCA requires banks to do extra checks on their correspondent banking customers to reduce the higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing associated with the service.

June 20, 2022

Requested Update! UK FCA Withdraws Warning Against Michael Gastauer’s Black Banx!

The UK FCA withdraw a warning against the Black Banx scheme for the UK market as "the FCA accepts that Black Banx was not trading unlicensed in the UK." This is good news for Black Banx and its founder Michael Gastauer. The bad news, however, is that the U.S. SEC obtained a final judgment against the German Gastauer "for facilitating a multi-million dollar international fraud scheme" that generated more than $165 million of illegal sales of stock on the U.S. markets. Gastauer is ordered to pay over $17 million. Gastauer and Black Banx strictly deny the allegations and have issued the following statement:

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June 17, 2022

Warning For UK Consumers – Your Funeral Investments Are Subject To Regulation!

The UK FCA informed that funeral plan providers will become subject to regulation. From 29 July 2022, any funeral plan provider that isn’t authorized by the UK regulator will be committing a criminal offense if it sells or administers a funeral plan contract. Unregulated providers won’t be allowed to deliver the service you have paid for - a funeral. Customers of regulated firms customers have access to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

June 2, 2022

Richard Lloyd Appointed Interim Chair Of The UK FCA

Richard Lloyd has become Interim Chair of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) taking over from Charles Randell. He joined the FCA Board in April 2019. The FCA is an independent authority, accountable to UK HM Treasury and to Parliament. The Chair of the FCA is appointed by HM Treasury. Charles Randell took up his role as Chair of the FCA and Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) Boards in April 2018 until his resignation on 31 May 2022.

June 1, 2022

Introducing Offshore Broker Direct Trading Technologies And Its Activities!

Direct Trading Technologies (UK) Ltd d/b/a Direct TT is an investment firm regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which officially operates with a UK domain. In addition, there is are Direct Trading Technologies offshore entities in Vanuatu and Panama that also operates unauthorized broker platform solicitating clients in Europe and across the globe.The Spanish regulator CNMV has issued a warning against these offshore mutations. Stay away for theses offshore broker activities.

The Unraveling of Rabidi and the Rise of the SoftSwiss Network: Our Updated Forensic Report

A few months ago, FinTelegram released a first forensic report on the bankruptcy of Rabidi N.V., a Curacao-registered online casino operator with hundreds of millions in revenues — and no traceable assets by the time of its collapse in May 2024. That report already raised serious questions about the opaque structures behind Rabidi’s operations and its successor, Liernin Enterprises Ltd.

DeFi Decoded: Smart Contracts – The Code Behind the DeFi Revolution

Smart contracts are the invisible architects of decentralized finance. These self-executing lines of code run everything from token swaps to lending platforms without middlemen. But while they offer autonomy, they also introduce new risks—bugs, exploits, and irreversible mistakes. In this fourth installment of our FinTelegram DeFi Series, we explain what smart contracts are.

CFTC

Despite New Crypto Friendlyness: No Settlement Between U.S. CFTC And KuCoin?

A planned settlement between the U.S.CFTC and crypto exchange KuCoin is now in limbo due to a reported policy shift within the CFTC. This change is attributed to the Trump administration’s new approach, which deprioritizes enforcement actions against crypto companies. As a result, a CFTC attorney said that it is "unlikely that such authorization will be granted in the near term" regarding the settlement approval.

SEC’s New Era: Paul Atkins Sworn In—Will Crypto Finally Get the Regulatory Clarity It Deserves?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has entered a new chapter with the swearing-in of Paul S. Atkins as its 34th Chairman, a move widely anticipated to mark a dramatic pivot in how the agency approaches crypto and DeFi regulation. For years, the financial industry—especially the burgeoning digital asset sector—has bristled under the SEC’s “Regulation by Enforcement” strategy.

Crypto Mogul Changpeng Zhao – Fallen, Rich, and Rising Again?

As spring 2025 blooms and Easter’s themes of rebirth fill the air, Changpeng Zhao emerges as one of the most controversial figures of startup mythology: a man who fell spectacularly, paid a price—then rose again, wealthier and louder than ever. Once the almighty architect of Binance, CZ now resides in Dubai with a net worth that Forbes estimates at $63 billion.