CMA may ‘withdraw’ licenses of Kuwait Securities Company

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Firm said committed serious violations

KUWAIT CITY, March 31: The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) is in the process of withdrawing the licenses of Kuwait Securities Company (KSC), reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources.

The sources said the decision, which is expected to be issued very soon, comes against the background of serious violations committed by the company, primarily the practice of unauthorized activities such as trading in ‘Bitcoin’ and ‘inflated revenues’ under the item known as the ‘additional income’.

The CMA has received several complaints backed by evidence against the KSC, which were subjected to its own legal committees for auditing, inspection and research, before it firmly ruled that the company committed serious violations. CMA pointed out activities of the company were subjected to monitoring and it was revealed that KSC had manipulated the money of Kuwaiti, Saudi and Gulf clients, and a large number of them had filed complaints with the Public Prosecution (Capital Markets Authority), which necessitated taking deterrent decisions against it and all the violating entities.

The CMA reports and the inspection teams included excesses of using the name of the Authority to promote “extra income” activity and other activities as a result of which many savings were lost, after inspiring investors to make fictitious returns in order to attract and exploit their money. According to the sources, the company operated through Twitter to win the confidence of investors and lure them to make huge profits.

The sources pointed out that some complaints dealt with the company’s offering of trading services in digital and virtual currencies in the absence of standards and rules governing such activities, indicating that there were units owned by the KSC trading for the benefit of Kuwaitis and Gulf citizens and caused losses in a very short time.

According to the information, the company exploited licensed units from other countries to carry out such transactions away from the eyes of local control, at a time when the large number of complaints obliged the CMA to form a team to follow up the abuses, resulting in the preparation of a comprehensive report backed by facts and details and the commissioners did not hesitate to apply punitive provisions that require the withdrawal of licenses of the company.

The sources said “the Authority is interested in cleaning up the market and addressing the excesses issued by the brokerage firms and licensed persons in general, especially as there are international institutions that monitor the status of the Kuwaiti Capital Market under the promotions it receives, and what is expected to happen at the end of June when Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) issues its report on the promotion of Kuwait and its inclusion to the index.

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