Product intervention regarding binary options and financial contracts for differences - General ruling of the FMA
Pursuant to Art. 27dbis in conjunction with Annex 7.5 of the Banking Ordinance (BankO), the marketing, distribution and sale of certain binary options to non-professional investors in and from Liechtenstein is prohibited and the marketing, distribution and sale of financial contracts for difference to non-professional investors in and from Liechtenstein is only permitted subject to compliance with certain conditions.
In the course of the total revision of the Banking Act as part of the redesign of financial market law, which also includes the creation of the Securities Firms Act and the Securities Services Act as well as the Trading Venues and Stock Exchange Act, product intervention will be newly regulated. In accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 600/2014, the FMA is empowered to take the supervisory measure of product intervention. For this purpose, the FMA uses the supervisory instrument of the general ruling on the basis of Article 25 of the Financial Market Supervision Act (FMAG).
The FMA intends to publish the general ruling on the FMA website on February 1, 2025. The present advance notice or announcement is made to ensure that the parties are heard. Individual notification can be dispensed with due to the large number of affected parties domiciled in Austria and other EEA countries, which cannot be determined without disproportionate effort.
As of February 1, 2025, the existing product intervention is no longer based on Art. 27dbis and Annex 7.5 Banking Ordinance, but remains materially unchanged based on the general ruling attached in the draft to this communication.
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