Consob Warns of Unregulated Brokers Hunting for Business in Italy

Offshore brokers continue to chase online trading business in Italy, including within the gray area of the country’s cryptocurrency sector. The Italian securities regulator, , today blacklisted a new list of FX and crypto-focused brands including ForTradersFX Ltd; Gembell Limited Services – PO TRADE LTD – Tifiya Group s.r.o.; FAH Investment LTD; Muller Enterprise Ltd, FSM Smart Ltd, among many others.
The authority has also warned these firms against falsely advertising unregulated products as being regulated by Consob. The watchdog added that these financial promotions were unlikely to provide consumers with the clarity required by its rules and could leave them unable to understand whether the promoted products or services were beyond its remit.
The updated list includes the following domains:
www.fortradersfx.com;
www.pocketoption.com;
www.web.cryptozone24.com;
www.aurumpro.co, https://aurumprofin.cc and https://aurum-pro-finance.cc;
www.fsmsmarts.com.
On of the blacklisted brokers called is offering investors several trading assets including securities, derivatives, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, and other commodities and shares. FSM Smart also claimed to have offices in Cyprus, but after some research on our side, it became clear that the firm isn’t regulated by the CySEC as a CIF firm.
The UK’s watchdog FCA and the Canadian provincial regulator MSC previously warned the public against investing with FSM Smart as the company is running unauthorized forex and binary options services. The broker also offers managed accounts which the watchdog says complainants were told they would make up to 20 percent return on investment per week. The website, however, avoids making any guarantees on profit.
CONSOB has been amongst the most vigilant and strict regulators in Europe when it comes to dealing with leveraged trading. Recently, it has ordered the country’s internet access providers (ISPs) to obstruct Italian investors’ access to seven online brokers, bringing the total number of backlisted entities to 124.
The watchdog also put a blanket ban in place against activities of 24Option and , two CySEC-licensed Forex & CFD brokers. CONSOB said the ban was necessary to protect Italian investors after the Cyprus brokers repeated its violations despite the measures adopted by its original regulator (CySec).