Belize’s Financial Watchdog Warns TRADE24 License is “Complete Forgery”

by Aziz Abdel-Qader
  • The firm has been flagged by the Belize ‎watchdog for falsely stating that it is licensed by the IFSC.‎
Belize’s Financial Watchdog Warns TRADE24 License is “Complete Forgery”
Finance Magnates
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The International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) issued ‎yesterday a warning against another entity purporting to be registered in the country. ‎The Belize watchdog warned that a company calling itself ‘TRADE24 Investments ‎Ltd.’ is not licensed by IFSC or any other competent authority in the country to ‎conduct any trading business, according to an official IFSC press release.‎

The new update was issued by IFSC Director General Neri J. Matus, who said that ‎all persons concerned should exercise extreme caution and take note, as the ‎aforementioned entity is fraudulently claiming to hold a trading licence in financial and ‎commodity-based derivative instruments and other securities licences issued by the ‎IFSC., and that it is regulated by the organization.

A brief review of the broker website reveals that TRADE24 Investments Ltd lists its ‎address at Europaallee 41,CH-8021 Zurich, Switzerland, and in the 'About Us' section it makes reference to ‎other global offices including in the USA, London, France, Brazil, among many ‎others.‎

It’s not clear how many clients may be affected by the firm which has already been ‎cited yesterday for forgery over its regulatory status. But according to its website: “More than ‎‎140,000 of traders have chosen Trade24 as their broker on Forex market and every day new traders are joining us and among these brokers the ‎team of Trade24 will be glad to see you!”‎

Finance Magnates reporters spoke with the support team via the chat box available ‎on the broker’s website and they promised a telephone call shortly from a company ‎representative to comment on the IFSC’s warning, however at the time of publication no response has been received.

Fake IFSC license‎

Typically, alleged scam entities in scenarios like these may deny the accusations and make ‎up excuses, perhaps that it was an administrative error, but in this case the company ,‎besides listing on its website the regulatory status, as shown below, also ‎provides a link to a copy of an IFSC license which could be seen below. ‎

blztrade24

Belize is known as an offshore destination for brokers that want to meet fewer and ‎softer criteria and to comply with less strict rules and requirements than if they ‎registered in other jurisdictions.‎ However, the IFSC has recently made a number of key changes to its fee requirements, with the IFSC application fee soaring to $1000, doubling from just $500. The regulator also increased its annual license fee to $25,000 from $5,000, and the capital requirement for forex brokers to $500,000.

The International Financial Services Commission of Belize (IFSC) issued ‎yesterday a warning against another entity purporting to be registered in the country. ‎The Belize watchdog warned that a company calling itself ‘TRADE24 Investments ‎Ltd.’ is not licensed by IFSC or any other competent authority in the country to ‎conduct any trading business, according to an official IFSC press release.‎

The new update was issued by IFSC Director General Neri J. Matus, who said that ‎all persons concerned should exercise extreme caution and take note, as the ‎aforementioned entity is fraudulently claiming to hold a trading licence in financial and ‎commodity-based derivative instruments and other securities licences issued by the ‎IFSC., and that it is regulated by the organization.

A brief review of the broker website reveals that TRADE24 Investments Ltd lists its ‎address at Europaallee 41,CH-8021 Zurich, Switzerland, and in the 'About Us' section it makes reference to ‎other global offices including in the USA, London, France, Brazil, among many ‎others.‎

It’s not clear how many clients may be affected by the firm which has already been ‎cited yesterday for forgery over its regulatory status. But according to its website: “More than ‎‎140,000 of traders have chosen Trade24 as their broker on Forex market and every day new traders are joining us and among these brokers the ‎team of Trade24 will be glad to see you!”‎

Finance Magnates reporters spoke with the support team via the chat box available ‎on the broker’s website and they promised a telephone call shortly from a company ‎representative to comment on the IFSC’s warning, however at the time of publication no response has been received.

Fake IFSC license‎

Typically, alleged scam entities in scenarios like these may deny the accusations and make ‎up excuses, perhaps that it was an administrative error, but in this case the company ,‎besides listing on its website the regulatory status, as shown below, also ‎provides a link to a copy of an IFSC license which could be seen below. ‎

blztrade24

Belize is known as an offshore destination for brokers that want to meet fewer and ‎softer criteria and to comply with less strict rules and requirements than if they ‎registered in other jurisdictions.‎ However, the IFSC has recently made a number of key changes to its fee requirements, with the IFSC application fee soaring to $1000, doubling from just $500. The regulator also increased its annual license fee to $25,000 from $5,000, and the capital requirement for forex brokers to $500,000.

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