Recently, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued warnings about 26 trading and investment platforms operating illegally in the country. These platforms primarily involve online forex trading and trading-related activities, including three clone companies that mimic authorized and regulated entities by UK regulatory agencies.
According to the FCA's warning list, the clone platforms are Signaturefunding.org, GLG Partners PL, and Robo-investor. These websites impersonate authorized legitimate companies: Signature Funding Solutions Limited, GLG Partners LP, and Activtrdes PLC, respectively.
The FCA stated that other illegal platforms providing financial products and services to UK residents include Tresorfx, Trezo Capital, Greenloancl.com, Caplita, Bforexpro, and Trader Minds, as well as XIP Capital Groups, Prime Markets (primemarkets.com), Growfundsfx, and Fundstradefx.
Additionally, the FCA flagged Global Access FX, Ultimosfx, BankersGate, CT Matador, GTSEnergyMarkets FX, and FX Global Td. Limited Private Group, PixPal Pro, Dolphin Movers, Acefinancesystem Ltd, Arrow Solution (arrowsolution.co.uk), Unity Global Bank/Unity Global Banking Group (UGB), and Setupsfxtrading have been added to the list.
"Some companies may provide incorrect contact details, including postal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Over time, they may change these contact details," the FCA stated on one of its warning pages. "They may also provide you with details belonging to other businesses or individuals, so these details may look genuine."
The FCA's latest actions indicate the continued prevalence of illegal online trading platforms in the UK.
Meanwhile, the FCA recently identified "supervisory gaps" among contract for difference (CFD) providers in the country. The regulator pointed out that these types of companies did not pay enough attention to the risk of market abuse in non-equity asset classes.
Most notably, it found that these companies did not seize the opportunity to "narrow spreads," which is a form of market manipulation. This occurs when traders attempt to influence the price of securities in CFDs or spread betting by placing buy or sell orders directly into the market through direct market access (DMA) brokers to "narrow" the spreads of the securities and affect execution prices based on their CFD or spread betting positions.
To address shortcomings in the retail financial market, the FCA is strengthening market oversight through the Consumer Duty, a set of new rules aimed at improving consumer protection. These rules reached their third milestone on April 30 and are expected to apply to new and existing open products or services from July 31, 2023.
