Erscheinung:18.05.2021 | Topic Unauthorised business 24shares.io trading platform: BaFin prohibits unauthorised proprietary trading
In a notice dated 22 April 2021, BaFin ordered the 24shares.io trading platform to immediately cease its unauthorised proprietary trading activities.
On the 24shares.io platform, German customers are offered contracts for difference (CFDs) based on forex products, commodities, shares, indices and crypto currencies.
The operator of this platform is thus conducting proprietary trading within the meaning of section 1 (1a) sentence 2 no. 4 (c) of the KWG on a commercial basis. Neither the trading platform nor its operator hold the authorisation required under section 32 (1) of the KWG; this therefore constitutes unauthorised business.
There is no legal notice on the trading platform’s website. The website also does not contain information on the company's registered office or the entity responsible. The platform’s employees make unsolicited calls to trick German customers into believing that the platform is working in cooperation with BaFin. The customers are told that BaFin has appointed these employees to provide assistance in connection with losses incurred as a result of investments made with dubious providers. These customers are also provided with a form in German that bears the logo of the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) and BaFin’s logo. On 4 February 2021, BaFin published a warning about this on its website.
