CNMV Issues Warning on Unlicensed Entities

Recent additions to the warning list by the Spanish Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) include eight additional entities.

As reported by the regulator, their retail clients are offered unlicensed FX/CFD services and cryptocurrency services; as such, their conduct may be hazardous.

Furthermore, one of the entities on the list bears an uncanny resemblance to the widely recognized social trading brand, eToro.

CNMV issued a warning list on November 13, 2023, which included Easy to Invest, El Comercio IX, Etora Grand, Pivotal Coin Net, Thor FX, Tools4Deals, Xifra Global, and ExpToro, all of which lacked the necessary licenses.

The latter’s name is oddly similar to that of eToro, a well-known firm in the retail trading industry. Therefore, ExpToro may be categorized as one of the clone firms that employ visual identification and similar names to reputable and well-known platforms to deceive investors and entice them to utilize their services.

The Spanish regulator issued the following warning: “According to CNMV records, these institutions are not enrolled in the corresponding registry of this Commission and are, therefore, not authorized to provide investment services or other activities subject to CNMV supervision.”

CNMV has issued another warning regarding this clone within the last month. In the past, Bits Panda was included on the warning list as it masqueraded as the cryptocurrency platform Bitpanda.

Additionally, the regulator issued a warning regarding four FX/CFD market entities last week.

The CNMV is on schedule to implement more stringent regulations regarding the marketing, distribution, and sale of CFDs, as previously disclosed.

The update was deemed “justified and proportionate” by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which endorsed these regulations before their implementation on July 20.

The preliminary portion of the recently enforced restrictions maintains the course defined by ESMA in 2018 and the CNMV’s 2019 regulations.

Promotional activities and strategies that are directed at retail clients or the general public are explicitly prohibited.

This pertains to implementing software providers, sales representatives, or contact centers in investor recruitment.

The online investment service XTB has admitted that the more extensive restrictions imposed by the securities regulator in Spain have had a “minor” impact on its business activities.

The Polish broker, which provides a variety of financial products, stated that the implementation of these regulations has not caused “significant changes” in the rate at which new clients are being acquired. In response, however, the company’s stock fell to its lowest level in four months.