13 July, 2020 | AtoZ Markets – The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has suspended the licence of JP Markets SA (Pty) Ltd (JP Markets), FSP number 46855, as there is a reasonable belief that substantial prejudice to clients or the general public may occur if they continue rendering financial services.
Moreover, on the 25th of March 2019, JP Markets FSP license has been temporarily suspended without any prior notice by the regulatory body, according to the broker. Founded in 2016, the South Africa based forex broker, JP Markets was holding a licence and regulated by the Financial Services Board, South Africa under FSP no: 46855.
Read the complete story below to know the complete scenario behind the JP Markets and its licence suspension.
JP Markets Allegedly Operated in Absolute Conflict With Its Clients
Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) again temporarily suspended JP Markets license in June 2020. FSCA said JP Markets had problems processing customer withdrawals. The regulator has frozen the JP Markets bank account and also ordered the company to force the liquidation of all assets.
The regulator believes that JP Markets violates financial sector laws, including operating an unlicensed over-the-counter derivative provider (ODP) business. FSCA said, Forex broker trades against customers and interferes with trading terms to reduce profitability for high-income earners and increase company profits. It became clear that the broker was operating in an “absolute conflict” with the customer.
The regulator said the broker had to notify all affected clients of this and, with it, is prohibited from concluding any new business. FSCA also added:
“However, clients were not trading on an online decentralised global financial market; they were merely entering trades on a platform that was no more than an off-the-shelf software application that recorded these trades. In fact, clients were purchasing CFDs issued by JP Markets. JP Markets required an over-the-counter derivative provider licence to conduct these services lawfully.”
JP Markets FSP License Suspended
According to JP Markets' BD manager, Phumulani Nkosinathi Simamane, there is no reason behind the temporary suspension. It might rather be an embarrassing situation as the forex broker forgot to pay levies on time. When the company's FSP number was registered, Justin (the founder of the JP Markets) was using a jpinvest.co.za web address. However, the JP team no longer uses the jpinvest.co.za domain. After numerous email account updates to his jpmarkets.co.za address, the FSP regulator failed to update their system. So, they did not receive any warnings or notice from the regulator. While this could have easily been avoided if the email address had been updated. The FX broker took the responsibility since they should have followed up and paid on time.
In the interests of transparency, the FX broker has attached the notice clearly outlining the reasons for suspension. Moreover, the FX broker had paid the outstanding amount 2 days before FSP suspended the license, and are in process to have this unfortunate oversight remedied immediately.
Furthermore, under section 3 of the Grounds of Suspension and under section 4 the FSP confirms the reasons as missing to pay the necessary payments. Simply, JP Markets did not pay in time despite paying 2 days prior to the suspension.
However, the brokerage firm has been apologizing for any concern that it may have caused. They have tried to assure that the investor's funds are safe and secure. It is business as usual as the grounds for suspension have already been remedied. The company is just waiting for the FCSA to update the suspension status on the website.
JP Markets South Africa interview with AtoZMarkets
AtoZMarkets Team: "Have you made any changes to your protocols in order to avoid such issues in the future? If yes, what?"
JP Markets Management: Unfortunately, there isn’t an amazing story behind it. The TLDNR version is that the FSCA was sending reminders to an old email address, and we were not vigilant enough to follow up with them and the licensing dates. The company has grown exponentially in both the number of clients as well as the various services we have on offer.
We are keen not to repeat this kind of mistake again. The company has assigned a dedicated responsible employee to oversee those of compliance payments. We have also set up digital reminders hosted in the cloud. So, even if we update our servers or lose everything locally the reminders will come through. Finally, we made sure that the FSCA updated their records correctly for any future communication. We have assigned two of our senior company employees to oversee the new email address too.
AtoZMarkets Team: "Since you already remedied this case, how long do you think that regulator will keep the suspension?"
JP Markets Management: The ramifications of our FSP license suspension can be quite severe. However, the cause was merely a simple oversight on our side, as well as poor communication from the FSCA. While payment for the license was made late, it was still done prior to the suspension of the license. Which is why we are hoping for them to update the website as quickly as possible.
We expect them to update their website any day now. And we would like our clients to know that we do accept our share of the responsibility for this oversight and have already made adjustments to ensure this never happens again.
About JP Markets
JP Markets offers trading in around 30 forex pairs, stock indices, oil, gold, and OTHER CFDs. The company behind the brand, JP Markets SA (Pty) Ltd. holds its license from the Financial Services Board (FSB), South Africa, FSP 46855. The broker also has a presence in Kenya, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Lately, brokers see South Africa as a financial market with great potential. The country is one of the most developed countries in Africa. FSB is in charge of the licensing process and supervision of forex brokerages in the country. Besides, the South African regulator has enforcement powers to deal with breaches through the enforcement committee. The watchdog runs a customer complaints service, the Office of the Ombud for Financial Services Providers.
AtoZMarkets.com does not endorse nor praise JP Markets. We have no affiliation with this broker. See the list of reliable forex brokers in our directory section.