Internet providers told to block MiTrade – SEC

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Thursday that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) had ordered all internet service providers to immediately block the website and app of unauthorized investment platform MiTrade.

The SEC requested the move after it found that MiTrade had violated the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) and the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.

“We thank the NTC for supporting our campaign against investment scams and other predatory financial schemes toward the protection of the investing public,” SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said in a statement.

“The directive of the NTC will greatly help in preventing the proliferation of investment scams,” he added.

MiTrade was found actively using promotional campaigns on multiple social networking sites to entice Filipinos to invest and engage in activities on its platforms, the commission said.

The investment platform, the SEC said, had also “offered the trading of financial instruments from a wide range of asset classes,” including foreign currency pairs, foreign shares, index funds and commodity derivatives.

“The operator of MiTrade was not registered as a corporation in the Philippines and operated without the necessary license to sell or offer any form of securities, to engage in the business of buying or selling securities, to operate as a broker or dealer, or to create or operate an exchange in the country.”

Aquino, meanwhile, assured the public that the agency would continue working closely with the NTC to “take similar actions on other platforms facilitating illegal investment-taking activities and other predatory financial schemes.”

Under the SRC, all corporations that want to offer any form of securities are required to go through regulatory processes, which include filing an application for registration and providing information about the offering.