The largest binary options story of the year continues to gather momentum as a second regulator comes forward to condemn Banc de Binary and moves to also press charges against the company. The U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced just minutes ago that it will be following the lead of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) in prosecuting the well-known binary options broker Banc de Binary for soliciting U.S customers without being legally registered in the country.
Presently the trading of binary options in the U.S, while legal, is only permitted when these trades are conducted over an exchange. The only exchange permitted to offer binary options contracts presently in the United States is the North American Derivatives Exchange (NADEX). Off-exchange binary brokers have not been authorised to offer their services to U.S clients as of yet.
The SEC stated that it intends to press the same charges against Banc de Binary as the CFTC. These two charges are: offering off-exchange binary trades to U.S customers, and operating unlicensed as a Future’s Commission Merchant. The complaints against the company were filed with the Nevada Federal Court and accuse Banc de Binary of operating without a license in the U.S market since 2010. The SEC will be seeking permanent injunctions against the company, as well as financial penalties and prejudgement interest.
After Binary Options Wire has demonstrated a clear understanding of the prompt, the next step is to take a position. Our position on this issue is as follows: “Banc de Binary has cooperated with the CFTC and operated in line with SEC guidelines since withdrawing from the U.S market in order to pursue the regulatory path in both Europe and the U.S. The retrospective fines being proposed here are ludicrous and amount to little more than an attempt to bully an industry leader out of the market. This is a repeat of what U.S authorities did in the online gambling industry several years ago, and if you look at what is going on now, more and more U.S states are allowing European-based gambling companies back in.”
