As of July 31st, Forex broker LQD Markets Ltd will not be regulated by Cysec, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under which it has been governed until now. As first reported by Forex Magnates, LQD Markets has renounced its authorization to provide investment services and related activities and has allowed the CySEC investment firm's license number for LQD to expire as of start of August 2014.
LQD Markets has been under scrutiny for some time now. Back in June 2013, they had been cited for potential violations of Article 36 of the 2007 Investment Services, Activities and Regulated Markets law wherein they had offered investment services through third parties without first receiving the proper authorization from the regulatory authority.
CySEC went on to confirm that Liquid Markets had ceased its relationships with the said third party entities and had paid the 80,000 penalty Euro to the watchdog. Very little detail was provided by the regulator in regards to the nature of the potential regulatory violations that Liquid Markets were meant to have been engaged in and the FX broker continued to conduct Forex services up until the present.
LQD Markets informed its clients two months ago that the Cypriot entity would stop functioning in July and that it must transfer its accounts to the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated entity, LQD Markets UK. No explanation for the decision to abandon CySEC authorization was given but since an FCA license is more expensive to receive and maintain one might think that was an additional reason for the switch.
Ever since Cyprus became a member of the European Union in 2004, CySEC has become part of European MiFID regulation which provides firms registered in Cyprus access to all European markets. Many overseas firms have since jumped on the CySEC bandwagon, registering in Cyprus to take advantage of this regulatory regime.
Of the two regulators, the FCA license carries a bigger brand value, an important factor for those brokers focusing on attracting English-speaking clients or with potential M&A action in the UK market. Several other major Forex brokers such as AvaTrade and Markets have opted for FCA regulation to that of CySEC.
In accordance with the securities law in Cyprus, LQD Markets Ltd will remain under the supervision of the commission until it settles all its obligations arising from the investment services and activities that happened in the past.