ThinkMarkets Yet to Pay, Despite Ombudsman Ruling

Finance Magnates learned on Tuesday that has yet to pay back a former client, despite being ordered to do so by the UK’s Financial Ombudsman.
Back in July, the ombudsman in favour of the trader. The case relates to a series of trades made by the former ThinkMarkets client in mid-2018.

According to the financial authority, the trader managed to make a number of profitable trades in that period.
ThinkMarkets argued that the trades may have been undertaken using a trading system that took advantage of latency issues within the broker’s MetaTrader 4 platform.
As the London-based firm has a clause in its terms and conditions restricting the use of such a system, it withheld the client’s profits – something that it is allowed to do.
Certainty required
In its response, the Financial Ombudsman said that, though ThinkMarkets is allowed to withhold profits made by taking advantage of latency issues, the broker has to be certain that a client used such a system to make money.
“[ThinkMarkets’ terms and conditions refer] to the revocation of transactions ‘that’ rely on price latency arbitrage – not transactions that ‘may have’ or ‘possibly’ relied on price latency or arbitrage,” said ombudsman Roy Kuku in his decision.
Kuku’s ruling was accepted by the client, making it legally binding. But Finance Magnates understands that the broker has still not paid out – even though a one month deadline for doing so has since passed.
Speaking to Finance Magnates, a spokesperson for the Financial Ombudsman said that the broker is legally required to pay the trader.
“A Final Decision is just that – a final decision,” said the spokesperson. “If the person that came to us accepts the ruling within the set time period, then all parties are legally required to adhere to that decision.”