CySec fined €63.000 a Cyprus Investment Firm 

The Board of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec) has issued an announcement to inform investors that, at its meeting held on January 23, 2017, decided to impose a total administrative fine of €63.000 on the CIF PriorFx Ltd (the ‘Company’) for noncompliance with the following,:

1. the Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law of 2007, as amended from time to time (‘L.144(Ι)/2007’),

2. the Directive DI 144-2007-01 of 2012 of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the Authorisation and Operating Conditions of CIFs (‘Directive 1’),

3. the Directive DI 144-2007-02 of 2012 of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the professional competence of Investment Firms and the natural persons employed by them (‘Directive 2’).

The administrative fine imposed on the Company is broken down as follows:

A. €3.000 for non-compliance with Section 28(1) of L.144(Ι)/2007 as it failed to comply at all times with the authorization and operating conditions, as laid down in Section 18(2)(a) of L.144(Ι)/2007 and paragraph 14(1) of Directive 1, as it did not establish, implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures in order to ensure compliance with its obligation under L.144(Ι)/2007 and Directive 1. Specific, in the Internal Operational Manual that the company establishes:

i. does not refer the specific policies and procedures applied in relation to the suitability assessment

ii. does not include the specific policies and procedures applied in relation to the compatibility assessment

B. €30.000 for non-compliance with Section 36(1)(c) of the Law and paragraphs 14(1) 16(1) of Directive 2, as it failed to collect from clients the necessary information regarding their knowledge, experience, economic profile and investment scope to assess the appropriate financial instruments to propose to them.

C. €30.000 for non-compliance with Section 36(1)(d) of the Law and paragraphs 15 and 16(1) of Directive 2, as, it failed to ask clients to provide the necessary information regarding their knowledge and experience, to assess whether the investment service or financial instrument envisaged is appropriate for them.

Source: CySec (in Greek) – Decision 02-23-2017 to impose administrative fine to PriorFX Ltd

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