France’s Financial Ombudsman receives 228 claims related to FX
Marielle Cohen-Branche, the AMF Ombudsman, today published the annual report for 2015, raising concerns about the rising number of claims regarding the activities of Forex/binary options companies. The bulk of complaints, the Ombudsman noted, relates to firms regulated in Cyprus.
Each year, the number of cases related to FX/binary options that the Ombudsman receives continues to grow. In 2015, the total number of claims received regarding such firms is 228, a jump of 62% from 2014 levels and a fivefold increase for the past five years.
There is a significant rise in complaints regarding authorized entities which operate under the so-called “European Passport”. Such companies obtain their licenses in a EU jurisdiction other than France and, therefore, cannot be included in AMF’s blacklists. At the same time, such companies often use deceptive practices to lure clients.
The Ombudsman notes that 85% of the requests for mediation concerning EU-regulated firms in 2015 related to CySEC-regulated FX/binary options firms.
The French regulator issued 43 recommendations, including 42 recommendations for financial compensations. The size of the compensations varies from €200 to €52,700. The total of such compensations is € 379,209 (€ 214,057 in 2014). The sum awarded accounts for 86% of the sum claimed.
France’s regulators are pushing for a ban on electronic advertising of such products, with the proposal to form a part of a bill to be presented by the Finance Minister in the spring of 2016.
The services of he AMF Ombudsman are free of charge. They can be used by those having a problem with their financial intermediary or a company that issues securities they have invested in. The AMF Ombudsman and her mediation team seek to help investors settle the problem amicably and in reasonable time.