The European operations of ALB, which offers contracts for differences (CFDs) trading services under authorisation from Malta, are shutting down. The company will also relinquish its regulatory licence, FinanceMagnates.com has learned.
It has already submitted a request to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) for licence withdrawal, according to a letter sent by the firm to its clients and seen by FinanceMagnates.com. The company also confirmed its decision to cease operations under the Malta license.
Traders Have a Month’s Time
“The Agreement will be terminated with immediate effect upon the expiration of one month from the date of this document,” the letter noted, referring to the validity of the company’s agreement with its clients.
The broker has been sending letters to its clients informing them about the decision to shut down the business and asking them to close their positions within a month. Otherwise, it will automatically close all positions at the end of the second week after the one-month period.
For open positions in futures CFDs with a set maturity date, the platform will not allow the opening of a new instrument in the next settlement cycle.
It is also asking clients to “respond in writing to [the] notice” with details of the accounts to which they want their funds, held by the company, to be transferred after its closure. It further specified that the account must be “either with a financial or credit institution or with another duly authorised investment services provider.”
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No More Operations in Europe
ALB Yatırım is a broker based in Turkey, offering over-the-counter (OTC) and other financial products. The broker also holds an authorisation from the Maltese regulator, which it passports to provide derivatives trading services across the European Economic Area.
According to ALB’s European website, the Maltese entity has established a branch in the Czech Republic.
Apart from English and Czech support lines, the platform also offers customer support in Italian and Polish. This indicates it has a considerable number of clients in those markets. Its Europe website is also available in seven languages: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Polish, and Slovak.
Similarweb data also shows that ALB’s European website receives most of its traffic from Italy, followed by the Czech Republic. Interestingly, over 21 per cent of its traffic comes from US-based IPs, while about 11 per cent comes from Turkey.
