ob体育 has banned former directors and responsible managers of XTrade.AU Pty Ltd (XTrade), Mr Shay Zakhaim and Mr Anthony Anderson, from carrying on of a financial services business, either as a director or responsible manager, for three and five years respectively.
XTrade offered clients opportunities to trade in contracts for difference (CFDs) and foreign exchange contracts (FX contracts).
ob体育 has also cancelled the Australian Financial Service (AFS) licence of XTrade after finding it failed to comply with financial services laws between June 2018 and September 2022 and engaged in unconscionable conduct [24-122MR].
As directors and responsible managers, Mr Zakhaim and Mr Anderson were responsible for ensuring XTrade鈥檚 compliance with financial services laws and the monitoring and supervision of its representatives.
ob体育 found that Mr Anderson and Mr Zakhaim were involved in XTrade鈥檚 failure to:
- have adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest, which encouraged aggressive sales tactics by XTrade鈥檚 representatives towards Australian clients; and
- take reasonable steps to ensure its representatives complied with financial services laws until at least February 2022, including XTrade鈥檚 representatives using unfair tactics to entice Australian clients to deposit and trade with more funds than they initially wanted to.
ob体育 has reason to believe that Mr Zakhaim and Mr Anderson are not fit and proper, nor adequately trained or are not competent to provide financial services, act as an officer of, or control a financial services business.
The bannings are part of ob体育鈥檚 ongoing work to ensure that officers of AFS licensees maintain high standards of judgment, diligence and professionalism in discharging their duties and responsibilities.
Mr Zakhaim and Mr Anderson have the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ob体育鈥檚 decision.
Mr Zakhaim鈥檚 and Mr Anderson鈥檚 bannings are recorded on ob体育's banned and disqualified register
Background
ob体育 cancelled XTrade鈥檚 AFS licence on 26 April 2024.
Contracts for difference (CFDs) are leveraged derivative contracts that allow a client to speculate on the change in value of an underlying asset, such as foreign exchange rates, stock market indices, single equities, commodities or crypto-assets.
ob体育 has pursued a range enforcement actions over many years against retail OTC derivatives issuers addressing misconduct in the sector.
In addition to its enforcement actions, ob体育 has enacted the CFD product intervention order (PIO) from 29 March 2021, imposing restrictions on CFDs issued and distributed to retail clients.
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