Funds forcibly transferred from HFT Brokers to Alior Bank

The Office of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority on 30 May 2017 announced the forced transfer of all assets of HFT Brokers customers to Alior Bank immediately. This applies to both cash, financial instruments as well as client documents.

HFT Brokers without a license

On April 25, 2017, the Polish Financial Supervision Authority informed about the withdrawal of the brokerage license by HFT Brokers Dom Maklerski SA (we wrote about it in a separate article). Currently, we see only further consequences of this decision.

The Commission shall inform:

"In the opinion of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the transfer of financial instruments and cash and documents related to the operation by HFT Brokers Dom Maklerski SA with its registered office in Warsaw to Alior Bank SA - Alior Bank SA Brokerage House will properly protect the interests of the persons who own the assets in question."

On what basis can the KNF carry out such an operation? We read in the communication:

According to art. 89 sec. 4 of the Act on Trading in Financial Instruments, in the event of the expiration or withdrawal of the permit or discontinuation of the accounts referred to in art. 69 sec. 4, item 1, cited above by the entity conducting brokerage activity, the Commission may order the transfer of financial instruments and cash and documents related to the maintenance of bills referred to in art. 69 sec. 4, item 1, cited above of the Act, to another investment firm that previously agreed to it.

All this means that the fate of the once star of the Polish Forex market has been sealed for good.

Full KNF message