OVEX not authorised to give any financial advice, says FSCA

South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has now warned the public against doing any financial services business with OVEX (PTY) LTD (registration number: 2018/218598/07), saying that the company is not authorised to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act).

“OVEX is a company that asks the public through radio advertisements to invest an amount of R50 000 with them to take advantage of arbitrage in the dollar vs rand denominated cryptocurrency markets,” the financial watchdog notes in a statement issued on Thursday morning.

“It is the FSCA’s view that OVEX is conducting unregistered business and providing advisory and intermediary services without the necessary authorisation,” it adds.

“Members of the public should always check that an entity or individual is registered with the FSCA to provide Financial Advisory [and] Intermediary Services and what category of advice it is that the entity is registered to provide,” it warns.

“Attention is also drawn to the fact that financial services providers are not licenced to be a provider of over-the-counter derivatives, only to act as an intermediary for such products. In addition, financial services providers may only market the over the counter derivatives of approved product providers,” the FSCA points out.

Read: Crypto intermediaries must now be licensed FSPs

“The FSCA reminds customers who wish to conduct financial services with an institution or person to check beforehand with the FSCA on either the toll-free number [0800 110 443] or on www.fsca.co.za/Fais/Search_FSP.htm whether such institution or person is authorised to render financial services,” it adds.

OVEX is yet to comment on the FSCA’s warning statement.

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