CySEC fines investfw (itrade global) One million EURO

The Board of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) wishes to inform
the public that, at its meeting on the 3rd April 2023, decided to impose a total
administrative fine of €1.000.000 to CIF Itrade Global (CY) Ltd (LEI:
213800S1DAWWOXFDGQ42) (‘the Company’) for violations of The Investment Services and
Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2017, as in force (‘the Law’) following an
inspection in 2020 of the activities of the Company’s tied agent, which it appointed to act
on its behalf in Spain.
Particularly CySEC imposed to the Company:
A. A fine of €240.000 for violation of section 22(1) of the Law, as the Company did not
comply all time with the following authorisation conditions:
i. Section 17(2) of the Law, as specified further in Article 21(1), points (b) και (d), and
in Articles 22(1) and 22(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, as the Company
did not establish adequate policies and procedures sufficient to ensure its
compliance with its obligations under the Law.
ii. Section 17(3)( c) of the Law, as the Company, in the product approval process, it did
not specify an identified target market of end clients and did not ensure that all
relevant risks to such identified target market were assessed and that the intended
distribution strategy was consistent with the identified target market.
iii. Section 17, paragraphs (6) and (7)(a), of the Law, as the Company failed to keep
records of telephone conversations with all the services provided and the
activities/transactions it performed.
B. A fine of €120.000 for violation of section 24(1) of the Law, as specified further in
Articles 27 and 33 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, as the Company did not take
all reasonable measures to identify and to prevent or manage conflicts of interest
between itself and its tied agent on one hand and its clients on the other.
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C. A fine of €130.000 for violation of section 25(1) of the Law, as the Company did not act
honestly, fairly and professionally when providing investment or ancillary services to
clients, in accordance with the best interests of its clients, taking into account the
actions/practices of the call centre staff of the tied agent acting on behalf of the
Company in Spain.
D. A fine of €110.000 for violation of section 25(3)(α) of the Law, as the Company did not
ensure that all information provided to clients or potential clients through its website,
its marketing communications and the call centre of the tied agent acting on its behalf
in Spain was fair, clear and not misleading.
E. A fine of €80.000 for violation of section 26(1) of the Law, as the Company, through the
tied agent it appointed to act on its behalf in Spain, did not ensure that the natural
persons giving information to clients on its behalf, who were employed by the tied
agent, had the necessary knowledge and competence to fulfil their obligations.
F. A fine of €80.000 for violation of section 26(3), paragraph (a) and (b), of the Law, as
specified further in Article 55 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565, as the Company:
i. Did not require the clients or potential clients to provide all necessary information
regarding that person’s knowledge and experience in the investment field, relevant
to the specific type of product or service offered or demanded, so as to enable itself
to assess whether the investment service or product envisaged is appropriate for
the client, and
ii. Did not properly warn the potential client, after the completion of an
appropriateness test by the client, that the product or service was not appropriate
for him/her.
G. A fine of €240.000 for violation of section 30(2)(β) of the Law, as the Company failed to
monitor the activities of the tied agent appointed to act on its behalf in Spain, so as to
ensure that it continued to comply with the Law, even when acting through a tied
agent.
Full justification of the CySEC’s decision is available in the Greek text of the announcement.