Monarch FX and Quinten Hunter Banned From FX Crucible as ASIC Calls Foul and a Miss

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has started court proceedings at the Federal Court of Australia against Monarch FX (Monarch FX Group Pty Ltd). The broker’s former director and current general manager Quinten Hunter (formerly Quinten Hann) is at the epicenter of the case, with ASIC temporarily banning Monarch FX and Mr. Hunter from offering financial services in Australia until November when the hearing resumes.

Mr. Hunter was formerly a professional snooker player, appearing at international ranking tournaments in an 11-year career that earned him an estimated $800,000 in prize money. Nicknamed the 'The Wizard of Oz' by the snooker community, Mr. Hann's career came to a distasteful curtain call in 2006 when he was banned for 8 years by reason of match-fixing.

Interim Ban

The Federal Court issued an interim banning order on October 10, preventing Monarch FX from operating as a financial services business until November 21, 2014. In a publicly issued notice, ASIC cites concern that Monarch FX is not licensed or authorized to operate Managed Discretionary Account (MDA) services, thereby executing trades on behalf of clients whilst often recommending that clients establish self-managed superannuation funds in order to use their retirement savings to speculate on the FX market.

The Commission stated: “ASIC is concerned about the number of companies operating similar business models to Monarch FX, which use trading software to automatically execute trades in foreign Exchange contracts on clients' accounts without instructions for each transaction”.

Mr. Hunter was unavailable for comment.

Fallout

The firm was operating and offering its services as a corporate authorized representative of FXTG, but that authorization was revoked once the announcement was made.

In a brief interview, FXTG CEO Stavro D’Amore told Forex Magnates that “... following today's ASIC’s announcement, FXTG has no choice but to revoke Monarch’s authorization to operate under its AFS license”. Adding, “ASIC’s announcement is largely related to Monarch’s prior relationships with regulated AFSL holders. We made Monarch an authorized rep in April this year, whereas their previous dealings with Avestra Capital and Audm Capital stretch back several years. We have assisted ASIC in all elements of their enquiries and will continue to do so”.