Cantor Unit Fined Over ‘Spread Betting’ Service

Cantor Index, a British unit of New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald, on Thursday was fined 70,000 pounds ($134,000) by Britain’s Financial Services Authority for running an allegedly misleading campaign to promote its “spread betting” services.

Cantor’s spread-betting business lets customers wager on future movements of stock prices and indexes.

The fine related to leaflets and other ads offering clients a free mobile phone and other gifts if they placed a minimum value of bets, the financial authority said. The promotional material didn’t properly warn customers that they could lose more than the value of their initial spread-bet, the agency said. But it said no customers suffered losses.

Cantor said it had put “rigorous and effective procedures” in place to prevent similar incidents in the future. It has withdrawn the ads and will allow customers to close their accounts and return their free phones.