Early this week it was announced that Banc De Binary gained Cysec regulation, having launched a new headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus. This Cypriot office will serve as Banc De Binary’s European and Middle Eastern headquarters and according to the company represents a multi-million pound investment in the country.
Banc De Binary was established in 2009 and was one of the first providers to adopt the SpotOption platform for the provision of Binary Options to it’s clients. It’s listed headquarters are New York but this new office and regulation in Cyprus allows Banc De Binary to operate throughout the European union on the basis of MiFID’s outward service directive. Banc De Binary follows in the footsteps of their platform provider SpotOption who became the first Binary Options provider to become regulated by Cysec. This was all after Cysec changed its opinion on Binary Options concluding that they were in fact a type of financial instrument and therefore covered under MiFID.
This decision made Cysec the first MiFID member to treat Binary options as a financial instrument and has garnered a degree of criticism among those who feel that Binary Options are closer to a form of gaming than they are to a type of Over-the-counter financial instrument. In fact a number of Binary Options websites most notably OneTwoTrade have sought gambling regulation instead of financial regulation.
The licence offers an additional layer of transparency, accountability and security to individuals who are clients of Banc De Binary, whose accounts will now be backed by the Investor Compensation fund in full accordance with MiFID regulation. If the company was to collapse etc. amounts up to 20,000 Euros would be refunded to clients.
Obviously those at Banc De Binary are very excited about these events and this is reflected in Banc De Binary’s CEO Oren Laurent’s positive attitude about the prospect of financial regulation. (see 3-5:00 in following video).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cq-2yNffnQ]
It is estimated that the regulation of Binary Options will bring an extra 1,200 jobs to Cyprus over the coming year, as well as contributing much needed tax revenue to the country during a tough economic period for the small Island country.
