Do you remember when we were discussing the failure of Ioption and other brokers, plus several ones being sanctioned by various authorities, the most recent example being the suspension of the Cedar Finance license by CySEC? Remember how we also discussed that after an initial huge boom the binary options trading industry and its brokers may be exhibiting signs of reaching a saturated point and that the fierce competition means that only the fittest and strongest brokers stand a real chance of surviving?
Well, if you do remember all these, or even if you don’t, please read the following announcement published (strangely enough in Greek only) by CySEC on 19 December and see if you can figure out its significance and implications:
“The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission announces that, on 9 December 2013, the CIF «Cbay Financial Services Ltd» renounced its authorization pursuant to section 24(1)(b) of the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2007, as in force. Therefore, the CIF license with number 211/13 lapsed as from the abovementioned date.”
Any thoughts? No? How about if we tell you that Cbay Financial Services Ltd was the company behind the 24Option broker brand? And if we add that even after this announcement 24Option will continue to operate, but will now have behind it the CIF Rodeler Ltd, the company behind ZoneOptions?
Well, ok enough with the quizzing. What this announcement means is that the two brokers will effectively merge, operating under the same regulatory umbrella, although they will retain their separate brands and websites and also taking into account they are both already on the TechFinancials platform. If we would venture a guess as to reasons behind this move, we would attribute it primarily to an effort to optimize and minimize the associated operational and administrative costs.
What this development reveals to our opinion is that things in the market are toughening up and players are looking for ways to boost their chance for survival. Consolidation or merging could be a good way to start. What this particular case also exemplifies is that each brand is difficult to grow beyond a certain peak point and when this point is reached other solutions need to be enlisted. It should be pointed out that the 24Option group had launched the Zone Options brand a while back as a separate brand, although the two appear to be owned by the same people.
In any case things seem to be moving and changing in the binary options industry and in order to avoid potential loopholes or dangers, all prudent and wise traders should follow such developments closely and only trade via suitable brokers. We here at binaryoptionswire.com pledge to be raising the flag for all of you every time we learn something of significance. So, watch this space!
