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Russia’s Central Bank revokes licenses of largest forex platforms

The licenses of Forex Club, Fix Trade, Trustforex, Alpari Forex and Teletrade Group were revoked starting from January 27, 2019

© Pavel Smertin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. The Russian Central Bank revoked licenses of five largest Russian forex dealers - Forex Club, Fix Trade, Trustforex, Alpari Forex and Teletrade Group, the regulator said on Thursday.

Licenses are revoked starting from January 27, 2019.

According to the regulator, repeated violations throughout the year were the reason for revoking the licenses, namely - failure to fulfill or improper execution of the prescriptions of the Central Bank; violation of the procedure for maintaining internal accounting; violation of the requirements for the ratio of the amount of collateral provided by individuals to the company; violation of reporting procedures and provision of false reports; violation of organization of the risk management system; violation of the procedure for calculating funds; disclosure of inaccurate information on the company website.

Companies are obliged to terminate their professional activities in the securities market, with the exception of actions related to termination of obligations to customers arising from their professional activities in the securities market, and to ensure the return of property to customers before January 27.

At the same time, the Central Bank canceled qualification certificates of supervisors and general directors of these companies.

Thus, the Central Bank revoked licenses of five out of the nine Russian forex dealers. Alfa-forex, VTB-forex, PSB-forex and Finam-forex remained on the market.

Liabilities of Russia’s five largest forex dealers amount to 35 mln rubles ($505,000) and will be returned to clients in full by January 27, 2019, department head of the Central Bank Larisa Selyutina said.

"The total amount of liabilities with companies, whose licenses were revoked, are equal to 35 mln rubles ($505,000), accounting for approximately 3.7% of the total amount of money delivered by Russian nationals to licensed forex dealers," the official said.

"These funds are at nominal accounts. Prior to starting their business, forex dealers must open a nominal account with the bank, where customers’ funds will be credited. The forex dealer will not have right to dispose of such money. These funds will be repaid to clients by January 27," Selyutina said.

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