FCA CFD Rules delayed until summer 2019
The Financial Conduct Authority for the United Kingdom announced on 2019-04-26 that they’d be delaying the publishing of rules that will govern over the retail trading market. It was only in December 2018 that the FCA stated that they would adopt the same product intervention measures used by the European Securities and Market Authority.
The rules were introduced in August 2018, and they immediately banned binary options. These rules also put a cap on leveraging for retail customers with CFD trading contracts. These rules are still only temporary with the announcement of the delay. However, the FCA has no choice but to go over the rules with the ESMA every three months.
The rules will be remaining in effect permanently, with the FCA stating that they are going to ensure that it is a part of British law. Country regulators from France, Germany and the Netherlands have also made the ESMA’s rules law. There will only be one critical difference between the FCA’s regulations and the ESMA’s. The will be that the FCA will also regulate over turbo contracts.
Summer Issuing
The Financial Conduct Authority announced their plans to make these rules law back in December. However, back then they stated that the rules would be put into effect by April. Due to Brexit Negotiations being pushed back until October, it’s expected that these new rules becoming fully implemented will be pushed back until late August – early September.
The FCA issued a statement on 2019-04-26 saying: “As we are still considering the consultation feedback and ESMA’s temporary restrictions continue to apply to FCA-authorised firms, we now plan to publish a Policy Statement and any final Handbook rules in summer 2019. Our final rules for CFDs would apply from the date that ESMA’s restrictions expire, if not earlier.”
Currently, it seems that the hope for a lucrative FX/Blockchain Trading Industry in the United Kingdom has all but been lost. It appears that there will be no lenient treatments towards retail trading firms and that they will feel the full force of the FCA in the coming months.