The AFM imposes an order for incremental penalty payments on FPlus Trading
On 12 February 2019, the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) imposed an order for incremental penalty payments on FPlus Trading Ltd. (FPlus Trading). The order for incremental penalty payments was imposed because on its website (https://fplus.ai) FPlus Trading wrongfully states that it trades with an AFM licence. This means that FPlus Trading misleads consumers and breaches the Consumer Protection (Enforcement) Act.
Misleading commercial practices
According to its website, FPlus Trading is a trading platform where consumers can trade in currencies (including crypto currencies) commodities, shares and indices. The company says that it holds an AFM licence for this purpose. However, FPlus Trading abuses the trade name and licence number of an AFM licensee and thus misleads consumers. The AFM did not grant FPlus Trading a licence.
Order for incremental penalty payments
By means of the order for incremental penalty payments the AFM obliges FPlus Trading to cease these acts and provide consumers with information regarding FPlus Trading that is correct and not misleading. FPlus Trading will be obliged to pay a penalty if it fails to comply with the order within five working days. The penalty amounts to €5,000 for each calendar day FPlus Trading fails to comply, subject to a maximum of €50,000. FPlus Trading failed to comply with the order (in time) and must therefore pay a penalty.
What is an order for incremental penalty payments?
An order for incremental penalty payments is an instrument that is used to instruct or order a company or person to perform or cease performing a certain act. A specified amount of money must be paid if the order is not complied with within the term set.
Consumers who have questions can contact the AFM's Financial Markets Information Line at telephone number 0800-5400 540 (free of charge). Journalists may contact Nicole Reijnen, AFM Press Officer, on +31 (0)20-797 2815 or nicole.reijnen@afm.nl.Contact for this article
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