At last – after repeated fines and £8m penalty, Banc de Binary shuts up shop
WHAT is probably the world’s biggest binary options company is going out of business from today after mounting fines and bans imposed by regulators from a growing list of countries, though not Britain.
Banc de Binary, which has offices in Cyprus but is run from Israel, is notorious for using high-pressure sales calls to persuade ordinary investors to gamble savings on split-second changes in stock market prices and currency movements.
I sounded the alarm in 2013 when a reader complained that after he refused to place further bets, Banc de Binary took £16,000 from his bank account without his knowledge. I found the company was using a fake Wall Street address to impress clients.
Since then, The Mail on Sunday has published more than a dozen warnings about how clients with little financial knowledge have been induced to gamble, and lose their savings. The firm has been fined repeatedly by watchdogs in Cyprus and was hit with an £8million penalty by US authorities. Public warnings are in force in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and Belize.
But in Britain the dodgy dealers were helped by the Financial Conduct Authority, which allowed Banc de Binary on to its register of authorised investment firms, despite the fact that the regulator refused to recognise it as marketing any genuine investments. It won publicity by sponsoring Liverpool Football Club last year.
Banc de Binary has made repeated threats to sue me and this newspaper, and complained unsuccessfully to the press regulator, even misleading it by claiming it was not facing court action in the US. But last Wednesday, the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission revealed the firm had surrendered its licence.
Last Thursday, a company spokesman confirmed: ‘Banc de Binary will be closing in due course. For clients that have eligible funds in their account, we are encouraging them to withdraw the remaining balance.’