South Africa’s independent regulator, The Financial Services Board (FSB), today issued a warning against RBOptions, a binary options broker domiciled in Canada but not authorised to render financial services in South Africa, according to a recent FSB statement.
RBOptions is a Canadian broker with a history of raising the hackles of financial regulators. Three Canadian provincial watchdogs have warned against the binary broker in the last two years. In January 2014, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) put out an investor alert about RBOptions, and in March of the same year Saskatchewan’s regulator also followed other provincial authorities and warned about the brand in August 2015.
According to the broker website, RBOptions is owned by Zulutoys Limited in Marshall Islands and the clearing services with respect to the website and the company are provided by RB Secured Processing LTD, a UK company located at NWMS Center, 31 Southampton Row, London WC1B 5HJ.
Apparently, they eventually changed their headquarter address to the Marshall Islands after Canadian regulators cracked down, but who can confirm; virtual office addresses can be bought over the internet everywhere.
According to the South African watchdog, RBOptions solicits investments from the general public in order to trade on its platform while the company is not authorised to render financial services in the country. Furthermore, RBOptions is not a representative of an authorised financial services provider, as required by the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, 37 of 2002.
Lucrative destination
South Africa enjoys a strong and well organized financial market, therefore has become a repeated destination for brokers looking to expand their client acquisition sights toward the nation, depending on one of the world’s top ten capital markets and thousands of investors.
The FSB again reminds consumers who wish to conduct financial services with an institution or person to check beforehand with the FSB on either a toll free number or on the website www.fsb.co.za. The FSB is an independent institution, established by statute to oversee the South African non-banking financial services industry in the public interest, and fully funded by fees and levies imposed on this industry.
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