London-based firm Equitrade Markets Ltd (441877) has been declared in default by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The firm also traded as TF Financial, C&C Stockbrokers, Espread, Shareserve, CFD Choice and CH Markets.
The FSCS said it had received three claims against Equitrade, with one upheld claim relating to general investments.
A default declaration by the FSCS, the industry levy-funded safety net, is usually made when a firm is unable to meet outstanding claims against it. The declaration of default opens the door to ex-customers to claim up to £85,000 per successful claim from the FSCS.
The FSCS noted on 4 September that the firm was no longer trading and said customers may be eligible to make a claim against it. The firm’s regulatory authorisation was revoked by the FCA in August 2024.
According to Companies House, the firm was incorporated in 2005 and registered with the FCA as Equitrade Markets Ltd in February 2006, according to the FCA Register. Its last published accounts were made up to April 2020.
From July 2006 the firm traded under the name CFD Choice adding a further 16 trading names in the next 12 years. These included Espread, Equitrade CFDs, Equifutures, and C&C Stockbrokers all trading from 2007.
From 2010 it traded as Mayne Financial and from 2011 it traded as Shareserve and then TF Financial. In 2012 it added three more trading names; Platinum Investments, Espread and Equitrade Capital Markets.
In 2013 came MCI Securities followed in 2014 by Charles Hanover Investments. In 2016 there was Berkeley Capital, which traded for eight months. In 2017 the firm traded as CH Markets and resuscitated Berkeley Capital for three months. In 2019 one more trading name was set up, BBP Bandenia, which traded for just over a month.
The director of the firm was Jason Cook, 55, but it also had 15 other individuals involved with regulated activities, according to the FCA Register. Mr Cook was previously associated with MHA Wealth Limited and TMS Capital Limited.