Broker News

UK's main regulatory body has seen its last days. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) which has been the main body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom for over 28 years has ceased to exist. The FSA board, appointed by the Treasury in 1985, has operated independently of the government since its inception. Its main office was based in Canary Wharf, London, with another office in Edinburgh. As of this week, the FSA is no longer a regulatory agency. It has been replaced by the Bank of England; consumer arbitration will be handled by an all-new organization called the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Following Italy's ban of Cyprus-based binary options brokers, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Prudential Supervisory Authority (ACP) market and bank regulators have banned seven more Forex trading websites from operating in France.

FXCM believes that the substantial potential operating and capital synergies between the two companies would result in an accretive deal with a strong growth profile and improved economies of scale." Additionally, the merger would release close to $100 million of currently restricted cash (between the two companies), while increasing economic efficiency, largely as it relates to regulatory fees and the amount of funds that each company is currently required to segregate independently. Operating under one regulatory umbrella could arguably reduce these fees and funds exponentially. Finally, it has been suggested that a merger of these two Forex giants would yield as much as $70 million in incremental run-rate EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) once the companies are fully combined.

Italy has begun the process of banning binary option brokers from trading anywhere in the country. According to the reports that were first posted by Italian language news sites late last month, the Italian financial regulator, Consob, has decided that binary options too closely resemble gambling and after conducting preliminary investigations, the Judge of Rome, on the order of the Public Prosecutor of Rome, has directed Italian ISPs to block numerous binary options cites from appearing in Italy.

MahiFX is a New Zealand based Forex broker that launched in late 2011. Since then, MahiFX, has launched a variety of enhancements for retail FX traders including the ability to trade gold and silver on its platform, and has provided its account holders with direct access to institutional level execution speeds and spreads.

Binary Options has become such a popular choice for investors that many of its trades hover on the edge of legality. And what may bring in a quick buck, may not be worthwhile in the long run, if you're one to care about the law (or even just financial penalties) coming back to bite you. What binary options, as well as Forex brokers, are now seeing are harmful or "?toxic" order flows. This occurs when traders try to influence prices by taking advantage of arbitrage opportunities or by using methods other than the normal trading protocols, such as placing an order beyond existing market quotes.

Just after announcing its decision to offer Saxo Bank, which acquired shares in the regulated Turkish broker Deger Menkul Degerler in January 2013, and subsequently opened an office in Istanbul.

Shariah law dictates the way in which Muslims should manage their money and stipulates the main rules that Sharia-compliant funds and mortgages must adhere to. Key to Islamic finance is the fact that money itself has no intrinsic value; it is simply a medium of exchange. Each unit is 100% equal in value to another unit of the same denomination and profits as a result of exchanging cash with another person are not allowed. A Muslim is not allowed to benefit from lending money or receiving money from someone. In other words, earning interest (riba) is not allowed for Muslims wishing to adhere to Islamic law. To comply with these rules, interest is not paid on Islamic savings or current accounts or applied to Islamic mortgages. Many Forex brokers provide Islamic Forex, aka Sharia accounts, to enable Muslims to invest their money through their brokerage.