Cyprus-based brokerage AMFF Ltd has decided to give up its CySEC CIF license. According to the regulator, the company’s decision is not related to any regulatory action and that AMFF Ltd’s license renounce is entirely voluntarily.

The company moved with this step by itself as the license is no longer necessary since the group decided last year to wind down the operations of its retail brokerage service. AMFF also abandoned its binary options business, which it had provided through three now-defunct domains www.faceoption.com, www.moneotrade.com, and www.chartoption.com.

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Cyprus was actually ahead of the game when it came to regulating financial betting, including offering binary options to retail investors, mainly from other EU countries. Following the ESMA measures, however, there are no companies offering binary options products in Cyprus today. Some have simply shut down, and others opted to offer FX, CFDs, and related business instead.

A term to repay balances

While CySEC did not give any specific reason for its decision, the watchdog will continue overseeing the financial service company until it has taken care of its responsibilities arising from holding a license.

As of this date, AMFF Ltd is no longer licensed and regulated by CySEC. Further, the company will not be able to provide financial or ancillary services to Cypriot residents, according to the same CySEC announcement.

We understand that the regulator had given AMFF Ltd three months to settle its obligations arising from the investment services that also lapsed, during which time it remains under the Cypriot watchdog’s supervision.

Under the Cypriot regulatory framework, the company must return all outstanding balances to its clients and handle all of their complaints. In addition, AMFF Ltd must provide a confirmation from its external auditor that it does not have any pending obligations and must include details of each of the company’s clients.