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.
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.
FinTelegram is frequently contacted by law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions with requests for information. It has become known in the international law enforcement scene that FinTelegram has indeed valuable information and contacts. In our respective discussions, we recommend starting enforcement actions against facilitating payment processors. They are the backbone and payment data hubs of the ever-expanding cybercrime universe and its scams.
The unregulated Cyprus-registered Praxis Cashier System Ltd (Praxis Cashier) of Amit Klachko announced the acquisition of IC Markets (www.icmarkets.com) as a new Forex and CFD client. IC Markets is a globally operating regulated broker scheme established by Andrew Budzinski in Australia in 2007. Its different entities are regulated by Australian ASIC, Cyprus CySEC, and FSA Seychelles.