Binary Options industry: What is in the future?
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a report that is indicating that there is a significant growth in enquiries related to Binary Options sector across the UK
FCA reports high growth in Binary Options related enquiries
The UK watchdog has published a report, which highlights that the Binary Options were the type of investment products that experienced the most growth in enquiries for the period from December 1, 2015, to November 30, 2016.
As per the official FCA report, Binary Options investment products related enquiries totaled at 17%. Other investment products, such as shares, Forex, and bonds, stood at 14%, 13%, and 10%, respectively. The report states that the clients were mostly contacting the FCA to double check the reliability of the Binary Option firms.
FCA sees Binary Options as gambling product
Furthermore, the UK regulator stresses that currently, it does no regulate Binary Options. This is due to the fact that thus they classified as a gambling product across the UK. Therefore, investors do not receive any protections from the FCA, while dealing with Binary Options firms. The official report from the FCA states:
“We usually refer consumers to the Gambling Commission, which regulates operators offering binary options (providing the operator has remote gambling equipment located in Great Britain) to check if the operator is licensed. The Gambling Commission advises consumers not to use an operator if they have any doubts about whether it is licensed.
HM Treasury is bringing certain types of binary options within the regulatory perimeter alongside the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II, which will apply from 3 January 2018. This will mean that certain binary options will be regulated by the FCA rather than the Gambling Commission.”
As for the general data from the FCA Data Bulletin report, the section about investment products states that an overall number of enquiries accounts for 13,100. Moreover, almost 60% of the enquiries received from clients aged over 55.
Binary Options industry: What is in the future?
Meanwhile, Binary Options sector is not having the best times in Europe. A number of regulators are planning the advertisement ban for the Binary Options products. Some of them are already taking steps against the fraud in the sector.
Just recently, the CySEC has issued a Circular with a range of proposed changes to regulations. This aimed at improving the obligations of Binary Options brokers. Also, the circular forces regulated brokers to operate their sales and marketing department from their head offices. In addition, they also can operates them from EU-member countries.
