A warning has been issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding a crypto, Forex (FX), and Contract for Differences (CFDs) trading platform, NuxTrade.
The FCA, the UK’s regulatory authority for the financial sector, is in charge of policing financial firms and services. As part of its remit, and to help customers ensure that the company they are dealing with is regulated, the FCA publishes a list of firms that it is concerned are operating without authorisation.
NuxTrade FCA warning
On its website, the FCA warns that NuxTrade: “may be providing financial services or products without our authorisation” and that the firm is “not authorised by [the FCA] and is targeting people in the UK”. The main red flag for the platform is that it is registered in St Vincent and Grenadines, a territory that does not regulate FX trading services, making it a breeding ground for scammers and fraudulent firms.
Without FCA authorisation, if investors choose to deal with NuxTrade (or any other unauthorised firm), they will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to raise a complaint against the firm. FOS is the “free and easy-to-use service that settles complaints between consumers and businesses that provide financial services”. With NuxTrade on the FCA warning list, any investors who lose money cannot claim compensation against the firm; however, all is not lost, as investors may be able to bring a claim against their bank.
In the FCA warning, the Authority also outlines that, should investors decide to deal with NuxTrade, they will not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS is an independent, free service created to compensate clients of financial institutions that have gone out of business. Before investing money in cryptocurrency, investors should conduct extensive research and conduct due diligence. We recently provided some top tips to help investors understand what to look out for, as well as keeping an eye on the FCA warning list.
