You may be aware of recent changes in US regulations regarding off-exchange retail foreign currency transactions. In response to the Dodd-Frank bill, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted a new comprehensive regulatory scheme, which goes into effect on October 18, 2010. The rules apply to retail Forex transactions that are offered or entered into by entities that are solely registered with the CFTC under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
GO Markets is regulated under Australian Law and does not have any offices or operations based in the United States. This means that GO Markets is subject to the comprehensive licensing laws in Australia and not the US. However the recent changes adopted by the CFTC seek to ensure that retail Forex transactions offered to US residents can only be offered by entities registered through the CFTC and therefore subject to US regulations and laws. You may be aware that part of these new rules is the requirement to set minimum security deposits for transactions. The new rules require a minimum 2% security deposit for major currencies (i.e. leverage 50:1) and 5% (i.e. leverage 20:1) for all other currencies. This may place a restriction on your current trading activities.
Despite the fact that GO Markets is regulated under Australian law the regulatory regime of the CFTC seeks to impose its rules across all jurisdictions when it relates to Forex services being offered to US residents. The CFTC has a Memorandum of Understanding concerning consultation and cooperation in the administration and enforcement of futures laws and additionally the CFTC and ASIC are also party to the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and Exchange of Information. GO Markets has satisfied clients from all over the world who are attracted by quality products and services that we offer. We value your business and the trust you have placed in us to provide a quality trading solution.
Unfortunately due to the restrictions placed by US laws GO Markets will be unable to accept any new trades from US residents after the 18th October 2010 unless you are eligible to meet one of the categories below:
- You are an individual or company with total assets in excess of $10,000,000
- You are a corporation, partnership, proprietorship, organization, trust, or other entity that has total assets exceeding $10,000,000; that has total assets exceeding $1,000,000 and enter into an agreement, contract, or transaction in connection with the conduct of the entity’s business or to manage the risk associated with an asset or liability owned or incurred or reasonably likely to be owned or incurred by the entity in the conduct of the entity’s business.
We apologise for the inconvenience of this as the changes in US regulations are beyond our control. Please be advised that we will continually re-evaluate opportunities to offer services to US residents depending on changes to US laws etc. We may be in a position to advise you that we are able to accept US based residents in the future. You may also consider seeking your own legal advice as to how the regulations affect you or any company you operate through. Of course this is not a decision we wanted to make and we would have liked to continue to offer our services to US clients, but it is out of our hands due to the relationship between the CFTC and ASIC and is only brought about by the restrictive regulations recently put in place.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be only too willing to help.
Regards,
GO Markets Pty Ltd