FXCM Caught and FINED (by NFA) For Ripping-Off Millions of Dollars from Clients

FXCM Caught and FINED (by NFA) For Ripping-Off Millions of Dollars from their Clients.


What do you all think of this?
Los Angeles Times Article:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/mon...rrency-broker-hit-with-largest-ever-fine.html



The nation’s largest foreign currency broker was hit with a $2-million fine and accused by regulators of Currencies profiting at the expense of its customers.

The fine levied against the broker, FXCM Inc., comes as foreign currency trading is growing in popularity among home investors but also coming under greater scrutiny for the large losses suffered by investors.

The $2-million sanction from the National Futures Assn. is the largest single fine ever imposed against a currency broker in the U.S., according to the NFA. The complaint filed by NFA said the agency's investigation "revealed a number of deficiencies," including practices that were "unequal," "inequitable" and "arbitrary."

FXCM has said it is also the subject of a separate investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission looking at similar issues.

In addition to the fine, FXCM has agreed to pay back customers for money they lost due to the practices. The company said it had put aside $8 million to do this.

FXCM did not admit or deny the charges but said it took measures to address the problems when the NFA originally contacted it last August.

"FXCM continues to strengthen its compliance program and internal supervisory procedures," the company’s CEO, Drew Niv, said in a statement.

FXCM has been one of the leaders in the growth of the retail foreign currency industry, which has seen revenues explode 374% just since 2007, drawing in 615,000 American traders, according to the Aite Group consulting firm. FXCM said last week that it has 155,000 active accounts.

Critics of the industry have said that it uses intensive marketing to lure naïve investors who rarely win. Roughly 75% of the customers of U.S. brokers lost money last year, The Times reported in a story earlier this year.

Critics have also said the brokers can take advantage of unwitting customers because currencies are not traded on a public exchange like other assets traded by home investors. Instead, foreign currency brokers generally take the other side of their customers’ trades, winning when the customer loses and losing when a customer wins.

Last fall the second largest foreign currency broker, Gain Capital Holdings Inc., was hit by the NFA with a $459,000 fine for practices "that benefited Gain to the detriment of its customers," the complaint said.

The new complaint against FXCM discusses similar problems, though on wider scale. One unfair practice alleged by the NFA helped FXCM take in $650,000 from its customers during the first eight months of last year.

Gain and FXCM have jointly sponsored a show about foreign currency trading on CNBC that began airing this spring.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently issued an investor alert warning home investors about the risks of foreign currency trading. It did so at the same time that it instituted new rules for the industry that will be in place while regulators consider how to deal with currency trading moving forward.

A hedge fund investor who researches investment brokers wrote a letter to the SEC two weeks ago urging the agency to ban currency trading for unsophisticated investors. The investor, Justin Hughes of Philadelphia Financial, cheered the fines against FXCM.

“This is a good first step,” said Hughes. “Hopefully the ongoing SEC review will make further improvements to the industry and highlight that this industry needs further regulation.”

Last Wednesday FXCM wrote Hughes a cease and desist letter demanding that he stop disparaging the company publicly.

 

Gt,

a good ass kicking was required.

this fine is not even close to what it should be.
a slap on the wrist.

you can bet your butt they will " keep it between the posts ", going forward.

the mt4 platform allowed all these clowns on the admin. side to fix the game .

retail has no idea what kind of crap these brokers pulled in the last 10 years.

it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

http://forexmagnates.com/fxcm-slapp...n-suit-over-claims-of-fraud-and-racketeering/

when this is over, they should send a few of them to the iron bar hotel.

cheers,

s

 

I wonder gotta trade, why you feel you have to post the same thread twice
and in the wrong forum, and, why you're a month late doing so

'FXCM fined $2 million by NFA' posted on 08-14-11 01:50 PM
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=225440

 

disturbing how little protection one has with forex broker. You find this out only after you made some good coin.