Itrade Director To Pay A €50K Fine Issued By CySEC
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The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) recently slapped Lee Ron More with a €50,000 fine. More, who acts as the Executive Director, President, and Shareholder of Itrade Global (Cy) Ltd, was also banned from having any management roles for the next three years, citing significant governance lapses.
Itrade Global is running three retail forex brands, including Tradedwell, InvestFW, and TradeFW. However, CySEC’s fine seems to reflect the violations made by a “tied agent.” This is the entity that the firm appointed to act on its behalf in Spain.
Based on a decision made on July 29, 2024, and announced this Wednesday, the regulator found that the board at Itrade Global has failed to maintain adequate governance and oversight practices, as required by the Cyprus’ Investment Services and Activities and Regulated Markets Law.
The Commission also highlighted that neither More nor the leadership team ensured proper management controls. They also failed to regularly assess the efficiency of the governance practices. Finally, they neglected to address critical shortcomings that they may have even been aware of.
Why Was More The Only One Fined?
Board members apart from More — Yiannakis Christofi, Tatiana Kyriakidou, Elif Kundakci, and Charis Charalambides — did not receive fines nor sanctions, due to the nature of their responsibilities within the firm.
The sanction came after the company itself had already received a fine for compliance failure in April 2023. Back then, CySEC reached a settlement with the firm and its associated brands, issuing a €1 million fine and ordering them to resolve charges that violated the Cypriot Investment laws in 2020.
The decision was also influenced by the firm’s lack of honesty and transparency when approaching new clients, as well as its non-compliance with authorization conditions tied to the suitability of products that it offered to specific client groups.
CySEC also said that the broker did not establish adequate policies that would ensure that marketing material was compliant with regulations. There was even a lack of an internal operations manual or records of marketing assessments.
