During the passing week the most interesting stories from the world of online trading included the changing regulations in Spain, a surprising meeting in Cyprus and firms offering an additional layer of security in EMIR and MiFID reporting.

SpotOption

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On Monday we exclusively revealed that SpotOption, which is one of the leading providers in the binary options space and recently started diversifying into CFDs and forex, is restructuring its operations, making substantial cuts to its Israeli operations and shifting its focus to other locations.

SpotOption’s Hong Kong, Singapore, and London branches will be playing a bigger role in the future, with operational needs for the company in the Far East growing. According to the company, the highest potential for growth is in regulated jurisdictions.

P2P Binary Options

On Tuesday it was reported that the peer-to-peer trading venue for binary options contracts Novox Capital and its technology provider TRADOLOGIC received the green light from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to launch a new product.

The CEO of TRADOLOGIC, Michael Golod, elaborated: “I have no doubt that this is the future of trading digital options and I am delighted that we are getting on the same page with EU regulators. I’m positive that we will witness a massive growth in trade volumes over the next few months and we’ll see our hard work pay off.”

Spain

On Wednesday the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), the financial regulatory body of Spain, issued a circular setting a host of new rules regarding trading costs and risks disclosure, leverage and advertising requirements, for forex, contract for difference (CFDs) and binary options.

The Spanish watchdog gives the forex, CFDs and binary options brokers one month from receipt of the circular to take the appropriate measures in order to cooperate with the new rules. From then on, the regulator intends to conduct reviews to ensure they are complying with them, as well as with the general provisions of the law.

CySEC meeting with brokers

On Thursday we exclusively reported that Demetra Kalogerou, Chairwoman of CySEC, sent out an invitation to Cyprus Investment Firms dealing with forex and binary options. The letter, seen by Finance Magnates, invites shareholders, senior executives and compliance officers to a meeting with the regulator in Nicosia.

Companies from the forex and the binary options industries have been summoned on the 4th of April to a conference room at the Bank of Cyprus. According to the letter, to be discussed are “the latest and future developments of the forex and binary options industries in the European Union”.

Cappitech

On Friday it was reported that regulatory reporting software provider Cappitech signed a partnership with Colt PrizmNet. The deal with Colt enables Cappitech to take advantage of the company’s financial services extranet Colt PrizmNet, a private network with increased security.

Commenting on the deal, Cappitech’s Business Development Manager, Ron Finberg, said: “We are seeing growing interest from financial firms looking towards cloud solutions to increase operational efficiency. But, client and trade data security is still a major concern when deploying products in the cloud.”