Forex Broker FX World Under Investigation by City of London Police 

Currencies-trading firm’s license was suspended in June, says FCA

The City of London police are conducting a fraud investigation into currencies-trading firm FX World, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“[We] are investigating a foreign-exchange company in relation to fraud,” police spokesman Eddie Townsend said Wednesday, in response to a Wall Street Journal request for comment. No arrests have been made, he said.

Police have visited the company’s London offices in recent weeks, according to another person familiar with the matter.

FX World operated under a license granted by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which was suspended on June 29, according to a spokesperson at the FCA. FX World, which offered currencies-trading services and investment advice, isn’t allowed to operate without the license.

Information about the company on its website has been replaced with a note that says the company has gone into liquidation. Before the website was suspended, the site listed Clint Canning as chief executive and Gary Andrews as head of trading, both of whom didn’t return requests for comment by email and phone.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Canning was an analyst and portfolio manager, according to a biography posted on the FX World website, before it was taken down. Mr. Andrews worked as a currencies trader at a number of banks, including Rabobank, according to his biography that was previously on FX World site.

Rabobank suspended two currencies traders in October 2014 following an internal investigation, including a London-based trader named Gary Andrews. A LinkedIn profile with Mr. Andrews’s name says he is head of trading a FXWMA, also known as FX World, and was a dealer at Rabobank until October 2014. Rabobank didn’t respond to requests for comment.

FX World recently signed an agreement to sponsor Matchroom Boxing, a company that promotes sporting events, according to a news release issued by both companies on March 13.

The investigation comes after months of regulatory scrutiny over the way institutions operate in the $5.3 trillion-a-day currency market. Many retail forex brokers, which allow individuals to trade currencies, suffered steep losses and some went out of business after the Swiss National Bank scrapped its cap on the franc in January, causing severe currency swings.

Separately, banks have collectively paid more than $10 billion in fines after an investigation into foreign-exchange manipulation found they didn’t have sufficient measures in place to prevent misbehavior.

Source: WSJ – Forex Broker FX World Under Investigation by City of London Police

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