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Banc De Binary

Company type	Private
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	2009
Headquarters	Limassol, Cyprus
Key people	Oren Laurent Founder & CEO and Sarah Fenwick, Head Of Communications
Products	Binary Option Trading
Number of employees	250
Website	www.bancdebinary.com/

Banc De Binary, also known as Banc De Binary Limited, E.T. Binary Options Ltd. and BDB Services (CY), is a Cyprus based private option broker specializing in the trade of binary options (also known as Fixed Return Options) on assets including Commodities, Stocks, Indices, and Foreign exchange. The company serves retail and institutional customers worldwide, where not prohibited by local regulation. It is regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission

According to the CFTC, which with the SEC in June 2013 charged the company with violations of US financial services regulations, Banc de Binary operates an online trading website through which customers can buy or sell binary ("call" or "put") options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will increase or decrease in a given time period.

The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks".

History

After graduating from NYU with a degree in economics, and spending years working at NAF Hedge Funds and Infinity Private Investment Funds, Oren Laurent founded Banc De Binary on January 15, 2009 following the SEC’s decision to approve the listing of binary options. In 2011, the company was nominated and accepted to the World Finance 100. In an interview, Laurent stated that by June 2011 the company had around 20,000 client accounts, and in an open letter published by August 2012, he stated that number was then 200,000.

In January 2013, the company became the first regulated binary options broker, accepting European Union regulation offered by CySEC, and at the same time it stopped accepting new client accounts from the United States to begin negotiations with the CFTC for binary options regulation in the United States.

In May 2013 company analysts were quoted by CNN's iReport article about trends on the FTSE 100.

On June 6, 2013, Banc De Binary was charged by both the CTFC and SEC for alleged violations of US Financial Regulation. Both the CTFC and SEC working in conjunction with one another filed civil suits against the company, seeking disgorgement, plus financial penalties as well other preliminary and permanent injunctions against the company.

Regulation

Banc De Binary was licensed as an investment firm by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) on 7 January 2013. The Financial Services Register maintained by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority states that from 25 February 2013 the company "is authorised or registered by ... ... and may be subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority". The company has similar licences in Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. In accordance with the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), the company has "passported" into almost all member states of the EEA; MiFID allows companies to provide financial services primarily regulated by their home state rather than the state where the customer resides.

Products and services

The company offers several products and services. Traders can trade on over 200 global assets including commodities, stocks, indices, and FOREX using several variations of the trading platform including classic binary options, long term options, sixty seconds, one touch (boundary options), and pairs trading.

In addition to 24/7 customer service, Banc De Binary offers Daily Market Reviews, access to analytical market research, and trade signals. It also provides educational tutorials on trading binary options, as well as other educational tools.

Awards

• 2013, Best Binary Options Broker in the Middle East 2013, JFEX
• 2013, Corporate Governance Award, World Finance Magazine
• 2012, Best Binary Options Customer Service, ForexTraders
• 2012, Best Binary Options Platform in North America, World Finance Magazine
• 2012, Best Binary Options Platform in Asia, World Finance Magazine
• 2012, Most Secure Binary Broker, Moat & Bailey
• 2011, World Finance 100, World Finance Magazine
• 2011, Best Customer Service, Forex News Now
• 2011, Best Customer Service, FX Empire
• 2011, Broker of the Year, Binary Options Daily
• 2011, Platform of the Year, Binary Options Daily

US Regulatory Issues

On the 6th June 2013, Banc De Binary was charged by both the CTFC and SEC for alleged violations of US financial regulations. Both the CTFC and SEC working in conjunction with one another filed civil suits against the company, seeking disgorgement, plus financial penalties as well other preliminary and permanent injunctions against the company. In civil suits filed in Nevada, the SEC and CTFC allege that the company was offering off-exchange traded options to US customers and unlawfully solicited US customers to buy and sell options. The CTFC and SEC's suit also alleges that it did not limit its offerings to eligible contract participants contrary to use regulation.

In a message posted on its Web site, the company stated that

Banc De Binary is voluntarily discontinuing its operations in the United States. The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission have asserted that Banc De Binary is not permitted to offer its binary option products to U.S. residents without registering with those agencies. We are currently in discussions with the CFTC and SEC about these issues, but in the interim, we have discontinued all business with U.S. residents.

Investor advisories

Banc De Binary has a file with the United States' Better Business Bureau that was opened in 2010. It is no longer accredited, because "The BBB reports that Banc De Binary has informed them that they no longer operate any offices in the United States." Previously, it had been rated "F" due to the amount of time it had been in operation and for failing to respond to 5 of 11 customer complaints.

It appears on the US Securities and Exchange Commission's "List of Unregistered Soliciting Entities That Have Been the Subject of Investor Complaints".

In Canada, it is listed on the Ontario Securities Commission's Investors Warning List of "companies that appear to be engaging in activities that may pose a risk to investors".

After receiving "at least one complaint from a Québec investor who was unable to recover his investment", the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) warned investors about the company, saying

The AMF cautions Québec investors about fraudulent schemes involving binary options and their trading platforms. The consequences of these schemes can include blocked access to accounts, refusal to refund investments, identity theft and the manipulation of software to generate losing trades.

It noted that a bonus of 50% of the opening deposit is available, but customers who accept the bonus are not allowed to make withdrawals until they have made trades equal to 20 times their initial deposit. The AMF also pointed out that, due to the “all or nothing” nature of binary options, an investor who wrongly predicts market movement will lose his entire investment. Banc De Binary is not registered with the AMF and does not specifically target investors in Québec.

External links

• Official Site
• SEC Press Release about charges filed against Banc De Binary
• SEC Litigation Release
• CFTC Charges “Prediction Market” Proprietor Banc De Binary with Violating the CFTC’s Off-Exchange Options Trading Ban and Operating as an Unregistered Futures Commission Merchant
• PDF full text of legal complaint Commodity Futures Trading Commission v Banc De Binary Ltd. a/k/a E.T. Binary Options Ltd.
• CFTC investor alert about binary options trading

References

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• Companies established in 2009
• Companies of Cyprus
• Financial derivative trading companies