Listed companies may have an extensive stream  of news about the transactions, or ‘deals’, that they enter into. In addition to the mandatory disclosure of market-sensitive information about material ‘deals’, they may also voluntarily publish press releases about non-material ‘deals’. The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) has carried out an analysis of the number and types of ‘deals’ published by listed companies under its supervision and of their materiality. In the process, the FSMA also examined the extent of the financial information that these press releases contain. Given that investors need to be able to understand their impact, the presence of financial information is always an aspect to which the FSMA pays close attention in its supervision of the information disseminated by listed companies.This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) warns the public against several companies engaging in unauthorized activities on the Belgian market.The companies are the following:Aaron Venture Capital (aaronventurecapital.com)Aurora Capital Venture (auroracapitalventure.com)The above companies are not authorized to provide investment services in Belgium.The FSMA therefore strongly advises against responding to any offer of financial services made by the companies listed above and against transferring money to any account number they might mention.Moreover, according to information in the possession of the FSMA, these companies may be ‘boiler rooms’.Boiler room fraud is a type of fraud that generally involves contacting consumers unsolicited, often by telephone, offering to sell them shares or other financial products.Although boiler rooms claim to be authorized service providers, with a professional website and forms to fill out, they are in reality fraudsters who offer fictitious or worthless products or services.As a rule, the consumer is enticed to make an initial, limited investment that very soon appears to be profitable. After that, the consumer is asked to make more and more additional investments.  But when a consumer asks for his or her money back, this proves to be impossible without making additional payments and/or the new investments begin to lose money.The fraudsters often put the consumer under severe pressure (hence the term ‘boiler room’), insisting that they keep making further payments. In the end, the consumer will never get the invested money back.In order to prevent consumers from falling victim to this type of investment fraud, the FSMA makes the following recommendations:Always verify the identity of the company (company identity, home country, etc.) offering you financial services. If the company cannot be clearly identified, it should not be trusted. If the company is located outside the European Union, you will also have to be aware of the difficulty of legal recourse in the event of a potential dispute.Check whether the company holds an authorization by searching the lists published on the FSMA website – Check your provider.Consult the warnings published on the FSMA website as well as on the website of foreign supervisory authorities and of IOSCO. Check if the company offering you a financial service has been named in a warning. Search not only for the name of the company(ies) in question but also for the companies to which you are being asked to transfer money . On the FSMA website, this search can be conducted via the search function provided. In addition, all the boiler rooms about which the FSMA has already published a warning are included on the 'List of companies operating unlawfully in Belgium' published on the FSMA website. Please note: the fact that the FSMA has not published a warning against a given company does not mean that that company is authorized to offer financial services. While the FSMA seeks to ensure that it publishes warnings in a timely manner, it is entirely possible that a company operating unlawfully on the Belgian market may not yet have come to its attention. Moreover, unauthorized companies regularly change their name. Be wary of unsolicited phone calls/emails (cold calling), that is, where no prior request has been made by the investor. Such calls are often indications of an attempt at fraud.Be wary of requests to transfer money to a country without any connection to the company or to the State of which the investor is resident. Please note that in the case of boiler room fraud, requests to transfer money are made most often toward accounts opened with banks based in Asia.Be wary of (promises of) completely disproportionate returns. Fraudsters frequently present significant earnings at the beginning, until the day when the investor asks to withdraw the funds invested.Do not accept uncritically the information provided by such companies. It is not uncommon for a company to claim to be authorized to offer financial services although this is not the case. Be sure always to verify the information you are given.Be wary as well of 'cloned firms': companies that pass themselves off as different, lawful companies even though they in fact have no connection with the latter. A close look at the email addresses or contact details for the companies in question may prove useful in order to detect potential fraud of this sort.Ask your intermediary for clear and comprehensible information. Never invest if you do not understand precisely what is being offered.Be all the more suspicious if the payout of returns is conditional on an additional payment and/or the payment of a tax. These additional demands are often the sign of fraud.Company directors and managers should be extremely vigilant. Many boiler rooms target that group in particular.If you have the least doubt about whether financial services being offered to you are lawful, please don’t hesitate to contact the FSMA directly using the consumer contact form. As well, feel free to notify it should you come across a suspicious company that has not yet been the subject of a warning by the FSMA.

The ninth World Investor Week (WIW) will take place from Monday 6 to Sunday 12 October 2025. It is organized by IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions. The aim of World Investor Week is to promote the education and protection of investors. The various initiatives taken by the supervisory authorities in these two critical areas will be at the centre of attention.The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), whose chairman, Jean-Paul Servais, also chairs the IOSCO Board, once again lends its full support to this initiative. This morning, Mr Servais took part in the ‘Ring the Bell’ ceremony, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Pensions Jan Jambon, at Euronext Brussels to mark the beginning of World Investor Week. A similar ceremony takes place in more than 50 stock exchanges worldwide on the occasion of the WIW.World Investor Week 2025 focuses, among other things, on artifical intelligence and digital finance. Other topics, such as online investments and the different types of scams they are liable to, are also featured. Within this framework, the FSMA is lending its support this month to the major Safeonweb awareness campaign against online investment fraud launched by the Centre for Cybersecurity BelgiumAdditional information on World Investor Week is available on the website  www.worldinvestorweek.org.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of SOFINA, ISIN BE0003717312 on Euronext Brussels will re-open on 3/10/2025 at 14:45 CET.

The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium, together with the FSMA, Febelfin, the FPS Economy, the Cyber Security Coalition and the police prevention services,  is today launching a large-scale awareness campaign via Safeonweb, a first on this scale in Belgium. The campaign is intended to raise public awareness of fake online investment offers. This fraudulent technique has burdened Belgians in the first half of the year with losses totalling 15 million euros. The new campaign coincides with both World Investor Week and European Cybersecurity Month, and emphasizes the importance of digital vigilance.This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of SOFINA, ISIN BE0003717312, on Euronext Brussels is suspended on the request of the company from 03/10/2025 at 09:00 CET until the publication of a press release.

 The FSMA is receiving increasing numbers of reports of dubious WhatsApp groups, in which fraudsters share so-called exclusive investment tips or promote fraudulent trading platforms. The FSMA published a warning to this effect on 4 August 2025, but it has noted that the phenomenon is increasingly frequent on social media. How does the fraud work?Consumers find advertisements on social media (often Facebook or Instagram) for WhatsApp groups where, it is claimed, exclusive analyses of financial markets and profitable investment tips are shared. These advertisements are often published via pages that fraudulently use the name and logo of well-known banks and news services. These are cases of identity theft.Consumers who click on the advertisement are added to WhatsApp groups. These groups are managed by people who pose as prominent economists or CEOs of American investment firms. These are also cases of identity theft.In these WhatsApp groups, consumers are encouraged to participate in lotteries. This is most likely a way to obtain consumers’ personal data. In addition, consumers are urged to purchase specific American listed shares. The aim appears to be to manipulate those share prices. This is also known as a “pump and dump” operation. Lastly, these WhatsApp groups also promote fake applications for trading in cryptocurrencies.According to the information available to the FSMA, the following dubious players are involved in this fraudulent phenomenon: Eternal Trust Group (eternalfx.com)Quantum Decision 500 (strategy-quantum.com)STIQX (m.stratpulse.finance)The FSMA has added these entities to the list of companies that are operating unlawfully in Belgium. Please note, the list is not exhaustive. In order to determine whether or not a company is authorized to offer financial products and services, please visit our ‘Check your provider’ page. If you have any doubts, feel free to contact the FSMA. I’ve fallen victim. What should I do?Stop making any transactions and break off all contact. Don’t deposit any more money and don’t provide any additional personal or financial information. Break off all contact with the fraudsters. They may try to manipulate you in order to take even more money from you.Contact your bank. Inform your bank immediately if you have made any payments to the fraudsters.Report the fraud to the competent authorities. Contact the FSMA and file a complaint with the police.Document all exchanges of information and transactions. Gather all evidence of your exchanges of information with the platform, including emails, messages, account statements and screen shots of the transactions. These items will, of course, be very valuable when you report the fraud.Beware of ‘recovery rooms’: fraudsters contact victims of a scam in the past and offer to help them, for a fee, to recover their lost money. Often these constitute yet another attempt at fraud.For more recommendations on how to avoid investment fraud, please consult the ‘How to recognize and avoid fraud’ page on the FSMA website. Please watch our awareness-raising videos as well (available in French and Dutch only).

This agreed settlement consists of the payment of 5,000 euros and the publication, by name, on the website of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of QRF, ISIN BE0974272040 on Euronext Brussels will re-open on 01/10/2025 at 9:00 CET.

The FSMA has published today the second edition of the Congress Columns. The Congress Columns are focused on the asset management sector and on bank savings and investment products.The Congress Columns are aimed at professionals in the sector. They address a number of sector-specific topics and thereby complement the FSMA's general annual report.The Congress Columns 2025 first describe the evolution of the sector concerned. The Congress Columns then discuss a number of the FSMA's views and expectations, as well as certain areas requiring attention and feedback following supervisory actions and analyses. The Congress Columns also discuss planned and ongoing supervisory actions.This publication is part of the FSMA's mission to strive for fair and correct treatment of financial consumers and aims to support the sectors in fulfilling their tasks.Consult the Congress Columns about asset management and banking products.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS AUTHORITY, PUBLISHED IN APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 78 OF THE LAW OF 21 NOVEMBER 2017Trading in the financial instruments of QRF, ISIN BE0974272040, on Euronext Brussels is suspended on the request of the company from 30/09/2025 at 09:00 CET until the publication of a press release.

Jean-Paul Servais, the Chairman of the FSMA and Chair of IOSCO, was in New York during the week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He held a series of high-level meetings reinforcing the importance of international dialogue at the highest level and focusing on global cooperation and coordination in the area of financial markets and the protection of investors.During his stay in New York, he also gave an interview to Bloomberg Intelligence's Scarlet Fu and Paul Sweeney, to discuss IOSCO's role in fostering resilient global financial markets through international cooperation among financial markets supervisors, addressing emerging risks in cross-border markets, and focusing on the impact of technology on financial markets.Watch the full interview here. 

Managing one’s own money, working, renting or investing for the first time: all these are part of the process of becoming independent. But that step is not always easy. For this reason, the FSMA is today launching, via its financial education programme, Wikifin, a targeted communication campaign on social media. Its objective is to help young people gain better understanding, plan for and take steps towards financial independence. Wikifin will also tour schools and campuses in the course of this campaign.This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

On 26 September 2025, the FSMA’s Sanctions Committee handed down its decision concerning Nyrstar NV and the directors who were in office at the time of the actions in question. The decision has been published on the FSMA’s website (available in Dutch only).By way of reminder: this decision follows on from the investigations officer’s investigation reports and the decisions by the FSMA Management Committee of 30 September 2022 and 26 September 2023 to initiate, based on those reports, proceedings before the Sanctions Committee that may lead to the imposition of an administrative fine. More information on these decisions is available in the FSMA press releases of  25 July 2022 and  30 September 2022, which, like this press release, were published to properly inform the market .The Sanctions Committee identified two infringements on the part of Nyrstar NV: an infringement of the prohibition of market manipulation provided for in Article 15 of the Market Abuse Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 596/2014) and a failure to comply with the obligation, provided for in Article 17 of the same Regulation, to inform the FSMA, immediately after a delayed disclosure to the public of inside information, of the said delay and to provide a written explanation of how the legal conditions for the delay were met. Specifically as regards the infringement of the prohibition of market manipulation, the Sanctions Committee deems that Nyrstar NV provided false or misleading information, stating on 30 October 2018 that there was a strong committed liquidity of 631 million euros, whereas that amount had by that time decreased to 440 million euros, and the latest weekly liquidity forecast as at the end of December 2018 stabilized at a positive amount of less than 200 million euros. Moreover, on its website it described the latter amount as “enhanced”, whereas the liquidity had in fact decreased as compared to the previous quarter.The second of three charges made by the Management Committee regarding a breach of the prohibition of market manipulation was thus considered to be partially well founded, while the other allegations as to the dissemination of allegedly misleading information about the solvency and liquidity position of Nyrstar NV, including its debt level and capital restructuring, were dismissed.Nyrstar NV was cleared of the first charge (publication of allegedly false or misleading information about the relationship with Trafigura and certain sales and purchase agreements) and of the third charge (publication of allegedly false or misleading information about the expected profit contribution of the redevelopment of the site of its zinc smelter in Port Pirie).The directors of Nyrstar NV (or their permanent representatives) who were in office at the time of these actions were cleared of the charge that they, as members of the Nyrstar NV Board of Directors, took part in the decision to disseminate information on behalf of Nyrstar NV about its liquidity position which has been determined to be false and misleading in nature, at a time when they knew or ought to have known that this information was false or misleading. For the infringements determined to have been committed by Nyrstar NV, the Sanctions Committee imposes an administrative fine of 80,000 euros.

As Chairman of both the FSMA and IOSCO, Jean-Paul Servais had a bilateral meeting with Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands during his visit to New York. Queen Máxima is one of the people who, for many years, has played a leading role, both internationally and in her own country, in the areas of financial health, inclusion, and education.In 2024, she was appointed the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health, a new role that builds on her previous work as the UN Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (2009–2024). Since 1 July 2025, she has also been serving as Chair of the International Advisory Board of the Global Finance & Technology Network, a global initiative committed to building efficient, resilient, and inclusive financial systems.Jean-Paul Servais commented: ‘It was a great honour and pleasure to meet Her Majesty Queen Máxima. For many years, she has made a remarkable contribution to financial education at the global level, a field in which the FSMA is also very active through its Wikifin programme. IOSCO, with its more than 130 members worldwide, also places strong emphasis on financial literacy, notably through initiatives such as the annual World Investor Week, which will take place soon.’

This agreed settlement consists of the payment of 10,000 euros and the publication, by name, on the website of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

A concrete case: copying or imitating a client’s signature is unacceptableEveryone who holds a regulated position at an intermediary must be fit & proper, that is, must have appropriate experience and the requisite professional reliability. The FSMA has its own margin of appreciation when it comes to assessing the requirements for fitness and propriety. For more information, please read the newsletter (available in Dutch and French only).

Dozens of employers have in recent years entered into an agreed settlement because they rewarded their retiring employees individually with an additional supplementary pension. This practice is forbidden, and the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) undertakes sanctions proceedings against such infringements. The FSMA’s action has led to date to 47 agreed settlements for a total amount of more than 370,000 euros.This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site.

This agreed settlement consists of the payment of 150,000 euros and the publication, by name, on the website of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA).This press release is not available in English. Please consult the French or Dutch site. 

Jean-Paul Servais, chairman of the FSMA and IOSCO and chair of the OECD Corporate Governance Committee, gave a keynote speech at the conference of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) in Lisbon. Before more than 1000 participants and alongside esteemed speakers like Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union Maria-Luís Albuquerque and the Portuguese Minister of State and Finance Joaquim Miranda Sarmento he stressed that the value of an audit - and the auditors who perform them - fundamentally depends on their credibility and trustworthiness.‘Ethical conduct is not merely a professional obligation but a critical responsibility that serves the broader public interest by fostering confidence and transparency within the financial system. Auditors play an essential and trusted role in maintaining the integrity of capital markets and protecting investors. Upholding high ethical standards is vital to fostering confidence and transparency within the financial system’, said Jean-Paul Servais.Read the full speech here.