Belize’s Financial Watchdog Warns TRADE24 License is “Complete Forgery”

The International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) issued ‎yesterday a warning against another entity purporting to be registered in the country. ‎The Belize watchdog warned that a company calling itself ‘TRADE24 Investments ‎Ltd.’ is not licensed by IFSC or any other competent authority in the country to ‎conduct any trading business, according to an official IFSC press release.‎

The new update was issued by IFSC Director General Neri J. Matus, who said that ‎all persons concerned should exercise extreme caution and take note, as the ‎aforementioned entity is fraudulently claiming to hold a trading licence in financial and ‎commodity-based derivative instruments and other securities licences issued by the ‎IFSC., and that it is regulated by the organization.

A brief review of the broker website reveals that TRADE24 Investments Ltd lists its ‎address at Europaallee 41,CH-8021 Zurich, Switzerland, and in the 'About Us' section it makes reference to ‎other global offices including in the USA, London, France, Brazil, among many ‎others.‎

It’s not clear how many clients may be affected by the firm which has already been ‎cited yesterday for forgery over its regulatory status. But according to its website: “More than ‎‎140,000 of traders have chosen Trade24 as their broker on Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term market and every day new traders are joining us and among these brokers the ‎team of Trade24 will be glad to see you!”‎

Finance Magnates reporters spoke with the support team via the chat box available ‎on the broker’s website and they promised a telephone call shortly from a company ‎representative to comment on the IFSC’s warning, however at the time of publication no response has been received.

Fake IFSC license‎

Typically, alleged scam entities in scenarios like these may deny the accusations and make ‎up excuses, perhaps that it was an administrative error, but in this case the company ,‎besides listing on its website the regulatory status, as shown below, also ‎provides a link to a copy of an IFSC license which could be seen below. ‎

Belize is known as an offshore destination for brokers that want to meet fewer and ‎softer criteria and to comply with less strict rules and requirements than if they ‎registered in other jurisdictions.‎ However, the IFSC has recently made a number of key changes to its fee requirements, with the IFSC application fee soaring to $1000, doubling from just $500. The regulator also increased its annual license fee to $25,000 from $5,000, and the capital requirement for forex brokers to $500,000.