Australia Regulator Blocks Interactive Brokers’ Currency Trading
Australia’s securities regulator told Interactive Brokers Group Inc. to stop offering over-the-counter currency trading, saying the company doesn’t have the right license to operate in the nation.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is also assessing whether the U.S. firm has breached the Corporations Act, Miriam Phillips, a Sydney-based spokeswoman, said by e-mail. Caitlin Duffy, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based spokeswoman for Interactive Brokers, declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg on Tuesday.
“ASIC has requested Interactive Brokers to cease providing all over-the-counter FX services in Australia, and has requested the provision of further information to enable ASIC to decide on an acceptable orderly exit mechanism from that business in Australia,” Phillips said.
Interactive Brokers had been operating under ASIC’s watch since 2013, when the regulator adopted a “no action position” on the basis that the online broker would get a license that authorized its local unit as a market maker, said Phillips. ASIC withdrew that position last week, and said Wednesday that it’s not ready to grant Interactive Brokers the license.
Interactive Brokers’ Nasdaq-listed shares are up 44 percent this year. The company has 960 staff around the world, according to its website.
Source: Bloomberg – Australia Regulator Blocks Interactive Brokers’ Currency Trading
