FCA Flags IC Markets Clone for Offering Services in UK

The British financial market supervisor, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has flagged ICMarkets, which looks like to be a clone of the popular retail brokerage brand headquartered in Australia, for offering services in the United Kingdom without the necessary authorization.

The UK agency has shared two telephone numbers, four email addresses, and a few domains that are used to operate a platform that is imitating IC Markets.

All of the flagged emails are of the domain icmarketpro.com, which has no links with the genuine IC Markets platform, the broker confirmed to Finance Magnates. The warning has also specifically red-flagged four domains: www.icm-market.com, www.i-cmarketz.com, www.icmarketpro.com, and www.ic-forexmarket.com.

The genuine IC Markets platform is operating with the domain icmarkets.com.

“We believe this firm [the clone] may be providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorization,” the regulator stated on the warning issued on Monday.

“This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. You will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), so you are unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong.”

A Reputed Broker

Founded in 2007, IC Markets licensed in multiple jurisdictions including Australia, Cyprus, Seychelles and the Bahamas. But, it is not licensed or registered in the United Kingdom with the FCA.

For its operations within the European Economic Area (EEA), the broker is passporting its license obtained from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ( CySEC ). This Cypriot entity, IC Markets (EU) Limited has received temporary permission from the FCA to operate in the UK after the closure of Brexit .

With operations across most of the top jurisdictions, IC Markets is one of the very few brokers recording more than $1 trillion in monthly trading volume. Furthermore, it is expanding its brand presence across Europe by sponsoring multiple sports clubs, a strategy followed by many other top brokerages.