On February 21, 2024, a hearing panel of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) held a hearing under the Investment Dealer and Partially Consolidated Rules and accepted a settlement agreement, with sanctions, between CIRO and Fortrade Canada Limited (Fortrade). Fortrade is a CIRO-regulated order execution-only (OEO) firm and received a $2 million fine for engaging in practices that contravene the regulatory body's rules.
Multi-asset broker Fortrade, headquartered in London, recently faced the revocation of its authorization in the Republic of Belarus, marking the end of a licensing period that lasted for five and a half years. The regulatory registry in Belarus reported the withdrawal of Fortrade's authorization, with no details given. As reported by FinTelegram Fortrade, it transferred its Belarus business to Mauritius after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) formally initiated the investigation into Fortrade Canada Limited's conduct in August 2021. Following an application made with a notice on November 9, 2022, in Toronto, Ontario, a Hearing Panel IIROC granted a temporary order in the matter of Fortrade Canada Limited. FinTelegram has been reporting about the ForTrade activities over the last two years!Â
LLC Fort Securities BLR is one of the offshore brokers of the Fortrade Group. It is licensed by the National Bank of Belarus (NBRB) and used to the now-vanished FX Trade Premium. The UK FCA issued a warning against this illegal broker (report here). Recently, the German BaFin has announced an investigation against this Belarusian entity, and its now-vanished Invest365. Amid the Russian invasion in the Ukraine ForTrade transfers its Belarus activities to Fortrade Mauritius Ltd, the group informed.
LLC "Fort Securities BLR" is the offshore broker operator of the Fortrade Group. It is registered and licensed in Belarus. It used to be the operating entity behind the now-vanished FX Trade Premium, against which the UK FCA issued a warning. BaFin has announced an investigation against this Belarusian entity and its Invest365. We have already exposed Fortrade's non-compliant offshore broker activities and their connections to the Russian Alpari Group and the FCA- and CySEC-regulated ForexTime Group.
The Spanish regulator CNMV has recently issued an investor warning against the broker Alpari, operating illegally in Europe via the offshore entity Alpari Limited, registered in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. We uncovered Praxis Cashier as a facilitating payment processor. From the information available to FinTelegram, it seems that die Alpari Group is related to the Forex Time Group and the ForTrade Group. Both are brokers regulated by the UK FCA and the Cyprus CySEC.