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Banc De Binary
Company typePrivate
Industrybinary options
Founded2009
Key peopleOren Shabat Cohen, also known as Oren Shabat and Oren Laurent, CEO and Director; Soteris Flourentzou, Director; Pieris Hadjipieris, Director; Uri Katz, Director; Yehezkel Shabat, Director;
Abraham 'Abe' Cofnas, Head Analyst; Sarah Fenwick, Director of Communications; Roy Ogen, General Manager of the Cyprus Headquarters
Websitewww.bancdebinary.com/

Banc De Binary, formerly known as BO Systems Limited and also known as BDB Services Limited and ET Binary Options Ltd., is an Israeli-Cypriot based enterprise specializing in binary options (also known as fixed return options) on assets including commodities, stocks, indices, and foreign exchange. The company 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 go up or down in a specific time period. The company has been charged with several offenses by the CTFC and SEC, and trading with US customers has been frozen following an injunction on 1 August 2013. Charges filed on 7th August in the US stated that Banc de Binary and Oren Shabat Cohen "may be criminally liable under the federal RICO statute". Oren Shabat Cohen and Banc de Binary have refused to appear in court in the US for depositions. Within the European Union, the company is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC); elsewhere it does business through BDB Trading, a separately incorporated company.

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

History

In an interview the company's founder stated that the firm was founded on the 15th Jan 2009, and that before, he had worked at "NAF Hedge Funds" and "Infinity Private Investment Funds", which he described as hedge funds in New York. The company also claims to have been founded in Seychelles in 2008, and that this is their current trading address. According to their Facebook Page, E.T. Binary Options, the alternative name for Banc de Binary, operates from the Diamond District in Ramat Gan, Israel and it is also publicly listed as having another office in Petah Tikva, Israel.

The CTFC asserted in their complaint against Banc de Binary that its CEO and founder Oren Laurent is an Israeli resident called Oren Shabat Cohen, with later court documents placing him in Tel Aviv. On the Banc de Binary website and others the CEO is called Oren Laurent; however the CTFC called him Oren Shabat Cohen, saying he is also known as Oren Laurent.

In an interview, the company's founder claimed that by June 2011 the company had around 20,000 client accounts, and in an open letter published by August 2012, he claimed that number was then 200,000. Banc de Binary have stated that it "is a small company, with approximately 60 employees".

An article in the Independent on Sunday newspaper described it as a "leading City trading firm", although it does not have an office in the City of London, and the address the company gives is a virtual office space with no physical presence .

Regulation

On 7 January 2013, Banc De Binary was licensed as an investment firm by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Investment firms regulated by CySEC must demonstrate to CySEC that their activities comply with the laws of any non-EU countries where they do business. According to the company, its operations "outside of the European Union" are conducted by BDB Services Limited (formerly known as BO Systems Limited), which is incorporated in the Seychelles.

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, but clients based in other countries would receive nothing if the company collapsed.

A 2013 investigation by the British Daily Mail newspaper journalist Tony Hetherington alleged that one client had $25,000 stolen from his bank account after signing up with them.

Products and services

The company allows people to place predictions on changes in the price of various assets by using a pricing platform provided by another Israeli company, Spotoption, and customised by Banc de Binary. Customers do not own the asset but instead predict whether its price will rise or fall. Spotoption also provide similar services for around 170 other binary options brokers. Banc de Binary's role is to create accounts for customers as a reseller of Spotoption's services. The company offers several kinds of options; customers can make predictions of the price of 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.

Internet presence

As of March 2014, the following domain names (and possibly others) were registered in the company's name:

  • bbinary.com
  • bancdebinary.com
  • bancdebinary.net
  • bancdebinary.org
  • easytradeonline.us
  • binarybank.asia
  • bdbaffiliates.us
  • binarybank.us
  • binary-bank.us
  • thebinaryoption.us
  • bbinary.asia
  • bbinary.eu
  • binary-bank.eu
  • binarybank.eu
  • binaryoptions.fm
  • bdb-partners.com

The domain bancdebinary.eu was registered to "Cronon AG Professional IT-Services".

Awards

  • 2013, Best Binary Options Broker in the Middle East 2013, JFEX
  • 2012, Best Binary Options Customer Service, ForexTraders
  • 2011, World Finance 100, World Finance Magazine
  • 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

Banc de Binary claimed to have an office in New York City at Trump Towers, but this was in fact a virtual office space with no significant physical presence. Trading and offering financial services to US consumers without gaining a license first from US regulators is illegal, as it would mean the client would have no protection. The company also claims on its site at its UK Companies House report to have an office at 1 King Street, EC2, in the City of London, but this, like its New York City address, is a virtual office with no physical presence. Banc de Binary's UK Companies House report says that they are based in Cyprus.

On 6 June 2013, Banc De Binary was charged by both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged violations of US financial regulations. In the same press release the CFTC warned more generally of "fraudulent schemes involving binary options and their trading platforms". On 30 July 2013 the SEC obtained a preliminary injunction from U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada to prevent and freeze any further trading with US customers. Binary trading in the US is legal, but only if done through properly registered and regulated exchanges such as NADEX. Both the CTFC and SEC working in conjunction with one another filed civil suits against the company, seeking disgorgement, financial penalties and 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 US regulations; a fully regulated broker would complete credit checks on customers to ensure that those with low finances did not trade with them. Amongst the allegations made by the SEC is that Banc de Binary induced people with limited funds, including one unemployed person with less than $1000, to open accounts. In response to the US charges the company put out a statement that made no mention of its legal problems, but instead incorrectly implied that they were in negotiations and that they had voluntarily left the US market, when in fact the SEC had taken an injunction out to stop them:

Banc de Binary have retained the services of Snell and Wilmer in Reno in relation to US charges. This followed an earlier hearing where in the absence of any representation from Banc de Binary, charges were filed via email and by post

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

As of October 2013, the company was rated "F" by the United States' Better Business Bureau because 31 complaints had been made against it, including 9 which were unanswered. The BBB report also offered the opinion that "he site essentially allows investors to gamble on the future price of something at a point in time."

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 traded through Banc de Binary's platform and was unable to recover his investment", the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) warned investors about the company. 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. The AMF also, like the CFTC, included a more general warning about the risk of fraud in binary options trading in the same press release.

External links

Images

home page, August 2013home page, August 2013

References

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