ASIC

AxiCorp ‘Stays’ Following Appeal Against ASIC License Suspension

AxiCorp-LogoAxiCorp has appealed ASIC’s decision to suspend the broker’s AFSL license to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which has “stayed” the operation of ASIC’s decision. The suspension will have no effect until the AAT has reviewed and finally determined the matter.

AxiCorp can continue to provide financial services until a final decision by the Tribunal is made.  The Tribunal refused AxiCorp’s request for confidentiality orders. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has decided to suspend AxiCorp’s Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) on 2 January 2020 for four months.

In an official statement, ASIC named the compliance failures that led to the decision. AxiCorp has allegedly failed to: pay client money into an account with an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution lodge product disclosure statement (PDS) in-use notices with ASIC comply with the ASIC derivative transaction rules comply with client money reporting rules; and lodge financial statements with ASIC by the due date.

AxiCorp was also found by ASIC to have breached Condition 3 of its licence which requires AxiCorp to establish and maintain compliance measures that ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the licensee complies with the provisions of the financial services laws.

The regulator also stated that the over-the-counter broker maintains deficiencies and systemic failures in its compliance regime.

AxiCorp trades under the business names AxiForex, AxiPrime and AxiTrader and operates a business offering margin foreign exchange (FX) and contracts for difference (CFDs) to retail and wholesale clients.

The broker released an official statement on the matter, assuring Australian clients that until the process has concluded, they will be able to trade as normal and AxiCorp is still able to service new clients. Clients trading through other AxiCorp entities are unaffected by this decision and can also continue to trade as normal.

“We strongly believe that the issues raised by ASIC are generally historical, in many cases self-reported and do not deserve a suspension, which is why we’ve appealed the decision”, the statement said, adding that the broker made a significant investment in its Australian compliance function and practices.

“In fact, we’ve recently commissioned an independent review by a highly experienced and qualified risk management and regulatory compliance expert in relation to ASIC’s concerns.  The report (shared with ASIC) made a number of positive observations about AxiCorp’s compliance operations, highlighted some areas that required further work.  AxiCorp has completed all of the work required and has taken steps to address the opportunities for further improvement identified by the expert”, it continued.

According to research conducted by the Investment Trends 2017 and 2018 Australia Leverage Trading Report on overall client satisfaction of primary account holders, AxiCorp’s clients are consistently the most satisfied with the overall service, including trade execution, compared to other major AFSL entity competitors.

The Finance Magnates 2019 Q3 Intelligence Report (excluding Japan) on retail FX/CFD volumes found AxiCorp to be a top 10 retail Global FX/CFD Broker.

AxiCorp is also authorized by other top tier regulators such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).