The CFD broker IC Markets is challenging a €200,000 fine imposed by CySEC in July 2024. The company's CEO, Andrew Budzinski, has hinted at divesting from Cyprus and expanding operations elsewhere, possibly in Dubai. While Cyprus has long been a popular hub for forex and CFD brokers, changing regulatory landscapes and shifting industry trends are putting pressure on its status as a financial center.
IC Markets claims to be the world's largest forex broker in terms of trading volume. As of March 2022, IC Markets has a trading volume of $1.11 trillion with more than 185,000 clients listed on its website. Daily FX trades with a volume of $29 billion are reportedly processed. IC Markets works with regulated entities in Cyprus and Australia and also has offshore regulated entities in the Seychelles and the Bahamas. With a 4.9-star rating, the broker is one of the best in class. Here is an update.
We have received a critical comment regarding our Request 4 Information regarding Spectrum Payment Services Limited d/b/a CardOneMoney in connection with its offshore client Raw Trading Ltd, registered in Seychelles. We were asked why we find it worth mentioning that a broker has a business relationship with a UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated payment institution. We wouldn't make a story out of anything there. Alright, we see it differently. Here's our response to the comment.
The forex world is crazy. We know that at least since the era of fraudulent binary options. The boundaries between legal and illegal offers are blurred. For example, many CySEC-regulated brokers also have offshore entities through which they conduct their illegal activities. These are illegal if they violate existing laws and regulatory requirements. The FCA has issued a warning against ZoomGlobalFX (https://zoomglobalfx.com) which is allegedly part of the CySEC-regulated IC Markets group.
Recently, the UK FCA issued an investor warning against the offshore activities of the CySEC-regulated IC Markets group, which operates in Europe through various domains and websites via offshore entities in Seychelles and the Bahamas. The FCA has now issued another warning against the scam broker International Markets a/k/a IC Markets, which operates with the domain https://internationalcapital-markets.com. The websites all work with the IC Markets logo and credentials.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning against the CySEC-regulated broker IC Markets and its offshore entity Raw Trading Ltd in Seychelles. The offshore broker operates with the domain www.icmarkets.com. The CySEC regulated broker IC Markets (EU) Ltd operates under license number 362/18 with the two approved domains www.icmarkets.eu and www.icmarkets.com/eu. The IC Markets offshore mutation also acquires clients from the EU and UK.