Inveza Capital Ltd "Expressly Renounces" CySEC License

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC ) has withdrawn the operating license of Inveza Capital Ltd as the company decided to "expressly renounce it." Though announced on Tuesday, the regulatory board finalized the decision more than two months ago, on 5 December 2022.

CySEC Cancels Inveza Capital Trading Authorization

According to the register of companies operating under CySEC authorization, Inveza Capital obtained its license (number 209/13) in August 2013. Under the license, it provided investment services through the internet address inveza.com.

"The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission announces that, on its meeting of 5th December 2022, has decided, pursuant to section 8(1)(a) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017 and section 4(7) of Directive DI87-05, to withdraw the Cyprus Investment Firm authorisation with Number 209/13 of Inveza Capital Ltd (LEI 21380072YOYRXZ8TKE88) ('the Company'), due to the company's decision to expressly renounce it," CySEC wrote.

In the past, the company went under the names NFX Capital Cy Ltd and Vinst Capital Limited. Its operations offered investors mainly trading in stocks, bonds, ETFs and early access to IPOs of popular companies.

Visiting the Invez website, we see information that the company has suspended all its operations as of 30 September 2022:

"Please note that as of 30 September 2022 Inveza Capital Ltd (ex NFX Capital CY Ltd) will cease all activities and, therefore, existing clients trading or have open balances with Inveza will be required to close their account and withdraw their remaining balance," the statement on the company's website reads.

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Wave of Renunciations in CySEC?

The Cypriot regulator, on 5 December, decided to suspend the license of another authorized entity, F1Markets Ltd, which also surrendered its authorization with immediate effect. Interestingly, the decision to cancel F1Markets' and Inveza's licenses were undertaken on the same day. However, CySEC informed about their current status in a separate announcement with a one-week gap between each.

F1Markets was the operator of several different FX and CFD brands, including Investous. It had four internet domains registered with the Cypriot regulator. According to the broker's website, it suspended its operations in May last year.

Although CySEC licensed F1Markets, its activities were not without controversy. The UK FCA found that the entity had promoted its services in the UK using fake celebrity endorsements. As a result, Cyprus suspended the company's license for a month.

Then, in August last year, the company agreed to pay €150,000 for several potential breaches of the licensing regulations.

In early February, CySEC additionally announced the cancellation of the TradoCenter and Toro Invest licenses, trading brands operated by FF Simple and Smart Trades Investment Services Ltd.

CySEC Warns against Clones and Unlicensed Brokers

CySEC has warned retail investors twice in recent weeks about unlicensed trading firms. February's warning concerned the activity of an unregulated cryptocurrency company, IMS Crypto. According to the Cypriot regulator, the entity falsely claims to possess a CySEC trading license, using the details of the authorized company.

An earlier warning was published at the end of January concerning five unregulated FX and CFD trading platforms. The illegal platforms were metexo.com, inforexeu.com, et-fx.com, nbimarkets.com and emporiumcapital.ltd. Currently, only the inforexeu.com website has not been responding, while the others continue to encourage investment.