The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has “suspended in whole” the licence of Viverno Markets Ltd, previously known as BDSwiss Holding Ltd. Under the Viverno brand, the company provided liquidity and technology solutions to other contracts for differences (CFDs) brokers.
Alleged Non-Compliance by Viverno
According to the Cypriot regulator, the company operating with a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) licence is suspected of violating regulations requiring “the existence of at least two (2) persons who effectively direct the business of the Company.”
“The… decision was reached as the… alleged violation causes concerns and risk relating to the protection of the Company’s clients and/or the investors and constitutes a threat to the orderly operation and integrity of the market,” the regulator stated.
As long as the licence is suspended, the company will not be able to provide or carry out investment services or activities, enter into any business transaction with any person, accept any new client, or advertise itself as a provider of investment services.
However, it will be able to complete or close all transactions of its own and those of clients that were opened before the licence suspension. Furthermore, it can also return funds belonging to its clients.
CySEC has provided Viverno with one month to address the non-compliances. Interestingly, Viverno has taken down its website, which now displays the message “Temporarily Unavailable.”
An Exit of BDSwiss from Cyprus?
Acquired in mid-2013, BDSwiss initially operated its retail CFDs broker operations under the CySEC licence. However, the brokerage received a €100,000 fine last year for lapses concerning initial margin and risk warnings. Although the broker did not clarify publicly, it rebranded its corporate name to Viverno after the penalty. Additionally, it removed all retail domains from CySEC’s list, retaining only the B2B unit.
Last month, Finance Magnates reported that several BDSwiss staff members, including top executives from its Cyprus office, had separated from the company. Recently, former BDSwiss Chief Revenue Officer Andreas Andreou, who also left the company in September, launched a Dubai-based prop trading platform. Additionally, Alexander Oelfke, the former Group CEO of BDSwiss, recently launched a CFDs broker headquartered in Dubai.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
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