Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

28.09.2022 | Topic Unauthorised business europemarket.io trading platform: BaFin investigates Archax LTD In accordance with section 37 (4) of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz – KWG), BaFin would like to make clear that Archax LTD, Sweden, does not have authorisation under the KWG to conduct banking business or provide financial services. The company, which previously also operated the economix.io platform, is not supervised by BaFin. There is no information that indicates any link between Archax LTD and the British company Archax Ltd.; rather, it is likely that the company registered in the United Kingdom has become the target of identity theft. BaFin has also been made aware that Archax LTD uses a fake form from the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern – BZSt) when handling its business operations on the europemarket.io platform. In addition, the platform’s staff forward “licences” that have allegedly been issued to them personally by the European Finance Association (EFA). However, the EFA does not issue such documents as far as BaFin is aware. According to the terms and conditions on the europemarket.io website, EZ2GO Ltd. is responsible for operating the website. EZ2GO Ltd. has already come to the attention of BaFin’s banking supervisors in the past. The information provided on the europemarket.io website and the information and documents available to BaFin give reasonable grounds to suspect that the platform is being used to conduct banking business and/or provide financial services in Germany without the required authorisation. Companies that conduct banking business or provide financial services in Germany require authorisation under the KWG. However, some companies operate without the necessary authorisation. Information on whether a particular company has been granted authorisation by BaFin can be found in BaFin’s database of companies. BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand to avoid becoming the victim of fraud.