The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) announced a settlement with the investment firm BCM Begin Capital Markets CY Ltd, imposing a fine of €50,000 for non-compliance with the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law. BCM Begin Capital Markets, formerly known as OX Capital Markets Limited, operates multiple trading brands, notably CapitalPanda and ProfitLevel.
The Fines Pile Up
This latest financial penalty comes on the heels of a December 2022 settlement, where the firm was fined €100,000 for breaching investment regulations. This was in addition to a previous €170,000 fine paid six months earlier, addressing infringements of market laws from January 2021 to April 2022.
CySEC’s earlier investigations into BCM Begin Capital Markets scrutinized potential regulatory breaches in two key areas: adherence to general principles and information provision to clients, and compliance with authorization requirements for Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs).
The most recent inquiry, leading to the current settlement, revolved around the firm’s practices in offering investment services to clients in Slovenia. The regulator’s concerns spanned several areas, including the firm’s CIF authorization under Article 5(1) of the Law, adherence to organizational requirements, management of conflicts of interest, and compliance with general principles and client information obligations.
The probe also assessed the firm’s evaluation of client appropriateness per Article 26(3)(a) and the preparation and delivery of key information documents as required by Articles 5(2) and 8(3) of the Regulation.
The Long-Standing CySEC Tradition
The Cyprus Investment Firms (CIF) regulated by CySEC have a long tradition of circumventing and violating regulatory requirements and financial laws. This started with binary options and continues today with CFDs and crypto.
Read our BDSwiss reports here.
Offshore structures are particularly popular with CySEC-regulated CIFs in order to circumvent ESMA regulations. In 2020, Hoch Capital Ltd (link to FCA decision) and in 2021 BDSwiss (link to FCA decision) were banned by the FCA while CySEC looked on.
While Hoch Capital had the decency to voluntarily surrender its license, BDSwiss is still active with an offshore license. The CySEC-regulated BDSwiss Holding Ltd, renamed Viverno Markets Ltd and is doing business as Viverno is still a CySEC-regulated broker.
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