Hong Kong SFC Issues Warning Against 72 Option
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has issued a specific public alert to Hong Kong investors regarding binary options trading firm, 72 Option. The SFC’s statement cautions investors, noting that Bulgaria-based 72 Option has been offering online binary option trading without proper legal authorisation to offer binary trading.
In point of fact, at this time Hong Kong does not offer SFC registration to any binary options trading firms, and therefore any company offering binary options trading to Hong Kong residents is in violation of current securities law.
The official alert statement, issued August 11, 2017, against 72 Option was released in conjunction with a general warning to Hong Kong investors regarding an increase in the number of solicitations for binary options trading that the SFC has received reports of.
Hong Kong does not offer SFC registration to any binary options trading firms, and therefore any company offering binary options trading to Hong Kong residents is in violation of current securities law.
Hong Kong SFC’s Alert List
Hong Kong’s SFC, one of the busiest financial regulatory bodies by virtue of being located in, and charged with the policing of, one the world’s largest and most important financial centres regularly issues warnings of this type, about unregistered trading firms.
Trading firms are typically added to the SFC’s Alert List when the regulatory body has become aware of them through reports from investors or other financial services firms that lead the SFC to conclude that the company is either soliciting Hong Kong investors as clients and/or claiming to be officially associated with Hong Kong.
About 72 Option
72 Option, which is headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, where it is listed under multiple addresses, does not, as far as the SFC has been able to determine, have a physical presence in Hong Kong at this time. However, the SFC notes in its warning that the brokerage may possibly be using the name of a legitimately registered Hong Kong company in order to solicit clients without raising suspicions.
72 Option’s parent company is Epic Ventures Ltd, a London-based firm which describes itself as “providing various business services”. Epic Ventures holds a bank account under the name “Luxury Billion Ltd.” in Hong Kong. 72 Option’s web site lists offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand. The brokerage firm offers trading in a variety of binary options, including one touch options and 60-Second options, with all trading done through the firm’s web-based trading platform.
Anatol has been writing for our news site for a year and is the newest member of our team. While he’s new to us, he’s certainly not new to trading with over 10 years’ experience being a professional financial journalist and working in the markets.