Banc De Binary

Banc De Binary
Company typePrivate
IndustryBinary options
Founded2009
Key people
Oren Laurent (CEO)[1]
Abraham 'Abe' Cofnas, Head Analyst


Banc De Binary was an Israeli financial firm with a history of regulatory issues on three continents.[1][2] On January 9, 2017, the company announced that it would be closing due to negative press coverage and its tarnished reputation. The firm also surrendered its brokerage license with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) removing its ability to legally trade in the European Union. Its 2014 revenues were reported as $100 million.[3][4][5]

It sold binary options on assets including foreign exchange. It was barred from accepting U.S. customers in August 2013 after being charged with several offenses by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil lawsuit.[6][7] The company agreed to pay $11 million in restitution and fines to settle the suit.[8][9] It is also banned from accepting customers in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.[8]

The company operated an online trading website through which customers could buy binary options, predicting whether the price of a certain commodity will go up or down in a specific time period, as short as 60 seconds.[10][11][12] Banc De Binary was an associate of SpotOption Exchange which sets the price of the option. The price of the option was not a market price, but was set by SpotOption Exchange itself.[13]

The Wall Street Journal described it as "a website that allows people to bet on the price of gold, oil or stocks".[14]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference FT11217 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cornish, Chloe (February 2, 2017). "Inside the high stakes world of online investing: binary options". Financial Times. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  3. ^ Magan, Dan (January 9, 2017). "Exclusive: Banc De Binary to Close Down". Finance Magnates. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  4. ^ "Banc De Binary closing operations". The Marker (in Hebrew). January 10, 2017. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  5. ^ Cohen, Tova (January 11, 2017). "Binary options firm Banc De Binary says winding down operations". Reuters. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  6. ^ "SEC Targets Cyprus and Israel 'Binary Options' Dealer", Law 360
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference cftc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference WSJ2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "New Zealand FMA Joins ASIC in Warning against Banc De Binary". Finance Magnates. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference cftc.gov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Ed (August 16, 2013). "Binary Options vs. Forex Trading". The FX View. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  12. ^ "Binary Options - A simple way to trade or just a SCAM?". Day Trading Coach. 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  13. ^ "xchange | Order Execution Policy". SpotOption Exchange. Archived from the original on 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2014-05-20.
  14. ^ "Regulators Sue Prediction Site, Allege Illegal Options". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.