Financial Commission Expels EBC Financial Group from Membership

The Financial Commission has expelled EBC Financial Group from its membership, according to the dispute-resolution body's latest daily industry recap. The notice did not set out the grounds for the removal or the timing of the decision.

The expulsion lands as the Financial Commission pushes deeper into retail prop trading, a segment it argues has expanded faster than oversight and now sits in a regulatory vacuum. The organisation's chief operating officer, Nikolai Isayev, discussed that shift in a video interview with Adonis Adoni, outlining the Commission's move to mediate prop trading disputes and what it means for both traders and firms.

According to figures cited in the discussion, the Commission's latest complaint data shows a 1:3 win-loss ratio in favour of brokers. The conversation also covered the consumer risks attached to prop trading, whether the activity should fall under financial or gaming regulation, and how the Commission's new prop trading certification works. It further addressed what happens when a member firm refuses to honour a decision, how the body screens firms, and how it deals with counterfeit certificates and scam operators.

Other developments

Away from dispute resolution, the same recap pointed to a continued drift in retail CFD volumes away from FX. Platform provider Your Bourse opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur, while trading technology vendor Brokeree redesigned its PAMM system.

In wider fintech and market news, Nasdaq invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, and OpenAI built a finance-focused version of ChatGPT. The CFTC weighed where the line falls between prediction markets and sportsbooks, and reports highlighted fake news as a driver of financial scams.

Among brokers, IG prepared hundreds of layoffs, Valutrades paused onboarding for CFD clients, and CMC Markets expanded overnight trading in US shares.