22nd May 2015 12:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Plus500 Ltd shares resumed trading on Friday as the contracts-for-difference trading platform provider continues to go through anti-money laundering procedures that have resulted in the freezing of client accounts in the UK.
The shares were down about 28% at 275.00 pence when trading resumed.
In a statement issued in conjuction with the return of its shares to trading, Plus500 provided further details of its discussions with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority.
Plus500 said the FCA required it to appoint a "skilled person" to review its anti-money laundering and financial sanction systems, as well as other related regulatory control, on January 9. Previous to that, on October 30, 2014, Plus500UK, a subsidiary, provided a so-called voluntary requirement to the FCA, under which it was prohibited from conducting all transactions for customers without the appropriate AML (anti-money laundering) documentation.
Plus500UK provided a further such voluntary requirement to the FCA following the completion of the skilled person's review on Friday last week, under which it was "required, amongst other things, to prohibit all transactions for existing customers until additional AML documentation had been provided and cease on-boarding any new clients until new AML procedures had been implemented".
Chief Executive Gal Haber said the company is doing everything in its power to resolve the issues.
"Customer balances are protected in segregated accounts with major international banks and we are mobilising significant resource to complete the verification project," Haber said in a statement.
"Shareholders can also rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to protect our UK market position and we are in close dialogue with the FCA," Haber said.
"The current situation is regrettable, and we apologise to customers whose accounts are frozen; we intend to resolve these issues within as short a time as possible. We will update customers and shareholders with the progress being made over the coming days and weeks," the chief executive added.
Plus500's shares were suspended just days after the contracts-for-difference company said it had suspended some UK customer accounts amid a move to tighten its anti-money laundering procedures.
Plus500 has also become a target of short-sellers, according to a table published by the Financial Conduct Authority, meaning that some investors have been betting on a fall in the company's share price.
The table shows the net short position held by a trio of companies over Plus500.
| Coltrane Asset Management, L.P. | PLUS500 LTD | IL0011284465 | 0.54 | 2015-02-24 |
| Sophos Capital Management, L.P. | PLUS500 LTD | IL0011284465 | 0.61 | 2015-05-18 |
| Valiant Capital Management, LP | PLUS500 LTD | IL0011284465 | 0.62 | 2015-05-19 |
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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