Stratos Markets Limited

On the 24 February 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA) imposed on Forex Capital Markets Limited and FXCM Securities Limited (together FXCM Ltd) a financial penalty of £4,000,000 in respect of Breaches of Principle 6 and Principle 11 of the FCA's Principles for Businesses. FXCM Limited settled at an early stage of the Authority's investigation and therefore qualified for a 20% (Stage 2) discount under the Authority's executive settlement procedures. Were it not for the discount, the Authority would have imposed a fine of £5,000,000. Principle 6 breach Between 1 August 2006 and 17 December 2010, FXCM Ltd treated its customers unfairly as it failed to pass on favourable price movements to its customers and instead the FXCM group retained the benefit, reducing the customers' ability to profit from trading in rolling spot forex trades. Principle 11 breach Between July 2010 and August 2011, FXCM Ltd failed to be sufficiently open and co-operative and disclose to the Authority information of which it would reasonably expect notice, namely: 1. the fact that in July 2010 US authorities had begun to investigate FXCM Group company in relation FXCM LLC's (US sister company) order execution policies; and 2. the subsequent decision by the FXCM Group company to settle with the US authorities and pay redress to its US customers who had suffered detriment due to asymmetric pricing. A copy of the Final Notice, which sets out the reason for the action, is displayed on the FCA's web site and can be accessed using the following link: