As many readers of our Russian site were concerned by New Zealand's warning against the Ukrainian Broker Forex Trade, Finance Magnates contacted the relevant authorities for response. In the meantime we turned to an expert to see what can the traders do. Sophie Gerber is the director of the  Compliance  Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a system of checks and balances that prevents fraud and inefficiencies.Additionally, this also ensures cooperation with federal financial regulations with the ultimate goal of protecting the public and provide needed information to governmental agencies to stop fraud, money laundering, and terrorist funding. Compliance in the financial industry offers stability to the markets and serves to protect customers, workers, and taxpayers from ethical threats that are inherited in individual decisions.Many organizations are also obligated to track and store compliance data. This includes all data that is relevant or belongs to a company, brokerage, etc. that can be used for the purpose of implementing or validating compliance or regulatory reporting.Given shifting regulations and the importance of compliance, the use of advanced software is increasingly being implemented to help companies manage their compliance data more efficiently. This cache includes calculations, data transfers, and audit trails.While finance is a globally unified concept, compliance is not. Regulatory compliance varies across both industries and jurisdictions. For example, the financial regulatory structures of one country may be lacking or different in another. Of note, the most tightly regulated jurisdictions in terms of compliance in the forex industry include the United States, United Kingdom or most European Union countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and others. In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a system of checks and balances that prevents fraud and inefficiencies.Additionally, this also ensures cooperation with federal financial regulations with the ultimate goal of protecting the public and provide needed information to governmental agencies to stop fraud, money laundering, and terrorist funding. Compliance in the financial industry offers stability to the markets and serves to protect customers, workers, and taxpayers from ethical threats that are inherited in individual decisions.Many organizations are also obligated to track and store compliance data. This includes all data that is relevant or belongs to a company, brokerage, etc. that can be used for the purpose of implementing or validating compliance or regulatory reporting.Given shifting regulations and the importance of compliance, the use of advanced software is increasingly being implemented to help companies manage their compliance data more efficiently. This cache includes calculations, data transfers, and audit trails.While finance is a globally unified concept, compliance is not. Regulatory compliance varies across both industries and jurisdictions. For example, the financial regulatory structures of one country may be lacking or different in another. Of note, the most tightly regulated jurisdictions in terms of compliance in the forex industry include the United States, United Kingdom or most European Union countries, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and others. Read this Term and legal firm Sophie Grace which specialises in Australian, New Zealand and international licensing and legal requirements for financial services companies.

Who is entitled to approach the FDR, are there any minimum requirements in terms of funds?

Anyone can approach the FDR. There is no minimum requirement in terms of funds, however they may first require you to go to  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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. 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 trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term Trend and lodge your complaint with them to see if you can achieve a resolution first. However in this situation, given it is proving to be an issue affecting lots of people which has been publicly announced by the FMA, I imagine FDR will accept the dispute straight away.

[This situation is the inverse of the article we wrote last week about how brokers can deal with complaints]

If a liquidator is appointed, after the fees associated with that process, there won't be much money to distribute to clients

How long does it usually take to settle such claims?

If Forex Trend does not capitulate and provide you with the desired outcome at the beginning, it may take several months to achieve a finding from the FDR and even longer to implement the decision (i.e. get any money back).

What are clients' prospects of withdrawing funds via the FDR, and are the authority's abilities to enforce its decisions?

I believe it will be quite difficult given the FMA has received information that the company cannot meet its debts and a liquidator is going to be appointed. The FDR will not be able to force complaints that have gone through to have priority in a situation where Forex Trend already has a liquidator appointed.

Unfortunately, if a liquidator is appointed, after the fees associated with that process, there won't be much money to distribute to clients. Without knowing much about Forex Trends, it appears that they may have had a system in place where client monies were sent to the Ukraine for hedging purposes - in which case it will be very difficult for the liquidator to unwind these transactions and get the money back to New Zealand to distribute to affected clients.

Are there any suggestions to non NZ residents who try to withdraw funds from the company?

The same as above applies to non NZ residents.