Canadian Regulators Issue Warning for Halifax & Associates

Apr 7, 2020 | Compliance Updates, iComply Insights

Multiple Canadian regulators issued investor alerts against online trading platform Halifax & Associates for selling illegal securities

What Happened?

April 7, 2020: Manitoba, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and other Canadian securities commissions have issued a warning that Denmark-based Halifax & Associates–claiming to be a cryptocurrency trading platform–has been defrauding Canadian investors. The Manitoba Securities Commission (MSC) claimed that a resident was scammed out of CAD$8,000, while the Nova Scotia Securities Commission (NSSC) notes that multiple investors in that province were defrauded.

Source: https://nssc.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/docs/2020-04-06-NSSC%20Halifax%20and%20Associate%20Investor%20Alert.pdf

Who Is Impacted?

Financial services providers targeting Canadian residents.

Why This Matters?

The Investor Alert helps Canadians assess the credibility of the firms they deal with, or intend to deal with. Investors who do not heed these warnings may be at risk of a total loss of capital–with no recourse for recovery–when dealing with fraudulent and unlicensed service providers operating outside of Canada’s regulatory oversight.

What’s Next?

By issuing the Investor Alert on Halifax & Associates, the NSSC has sent a clear message that these unlawful practices of promoting an unlicensed business can result in public enforcement. This alert could damage a company’s reputation in the public and create barriers to their future growth and development.

learn more

Is your AML compliance too expensive, time-consuming, or ineffective?

iComply enables financial services providers to reduce costs, risk, and complexity and improve staff capacity, effectiveness, and customer experience.

Request a demo today.

Stay on Top of Financial KYC and CDD with iComply
Stay on Top of Financial KYC and CDD with iComply

In order to stay up to date with increasingly complex and evolving digital security, fraud, and anti-money laundering practices, the United States’ Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) amended the Bank Secrecy Act to introduce final rules with regard to the...

Legal Entity Management, Streamlined: Meet iComplyKYC
Legal Entity Management, Streamlined: Meet iComplyKYC

Staying on top of corporate governance regulations can be one of the most time-consuming and costly aspects of running a business. However, this is essential to ensure your operations are compliant with all jurisdictional standards and run as smoothly as possible....

Identify and Protect: Digital Identity Verification with iComply
Identify and Protect: Digital Identity Verification with iComply

In a world increasingly reliant on mobile devices, tablets, and computers to navigate everyday life and business, identity verification is an invaluable asset for businesses when it comes to preventing fraud, money laundering, and terrorist funding. As cyber-crime...