Atlantic Securities

Atlantic Securities Broker Overview

Atlantic Securities is the trading name of Atlantic Securities Ltd, a Cyprus Investment Firm based at 37 Prodromou Street in Nicosia. The company was incorporated in Cyprus in April 2001 and began operating in August of that year. It is a subsidiary of Atlantic Insurance Co. Public Ltd, a company listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange. The business is share and securities brokerage rather than leveraged retail foreign exchange: clients trade the Cyprus Stock Exchange and the Athens Exchange directly, and reach more than one hundred other market centres through an international account. Charges are commission based and are published in full on the company's own fee pages.

Atlantic Securities Regulation and License

Atlantic Securities Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under licence number 005/03 and operates under MiFID II. The company states on its About Us page that the licence covers reception and transmission of orders, execution of orders on behalf of clients and portfolio management, with ancillary permissions for safekeeping and administration of financial instruments, granting credits or loans connected to a transaction, and foreign exchange services where these are connected to the provision of investment services.

Is Atlantic Securities Regulated?

Yes. The firm holds a Cyprus Investment Firm licence, 005/03, issued to Atlantic Securities Limited, and the licence is recorded as in force. The permission set is an investment services permission. It does not describe a leveraged retail foreign exchange or contracts for difference offering, and readers looking for that product should not read this licence as covering it.

Is Atlantic Securities Safe?

The structural protections a European investor would look for are in place, though regulation alone is not a guarantee. The operating company is named openly, its Cyprus registration number HE119857 is confirmed as active on an authoritative record, and the registered office matches the address published on the site. As a Cyprus Investment Firm the company publishes a clients' money policy, an investors compensation fund policy and a best execution policy, and it charges an annual investors compensation fund contribution to client accounts. Its parent is a listed insurer, and it has been in continuous operation for more than twenty years.

Atlantic Securities Account Types

Two routes exist. The local markets investor account gives access to the Cyprus Stock Exchange and the Athens Exchange and is opened on signed application forms, with an account opening fee of EUR 30 for a natural person, EUR 70 for a Cyprus company and EUR 100 for a company established abroad. The global account gives direct access to international exchanges. Atlantic Securities Ltd states that it acts as an introducing broker for Interactive Brokers on that route, so the international account is opened with Interactive Brokers rather than with Atlantic Securities itself. No minimum deposit is published for either route.

Atlantic Securities Spreads, Commissions and Fees

Pricing is commission based, not spread based. On the Cyprus Stock Exchange the brokerage fee starts at 0.4% of trade value plus 30 cents per trade, with exchange and depository fees of 0.04% and an annual depository fee of 0.003% charged quarterly. Athens Exchange pricing is the same 0.4% starting rate plus 25 cents per trade, with exchange and depository fees of 0.0325%. On international markets the rate is 0.20% on euro stocks with a minimum of 5 EUR per executed order, 2 cents per share on US and Canadian stocks with a 5 USD or 5 CAD minimum, 0.01% with a 3 EUR minimum on foreign exchange, 10 per contract on futures and options, and 0.20% of trade value on bonds and euro mutual funds. Where the cost would exceed 1% of trade value it is capped at 1%. Custody is 0.12% a year, calculated monthly, and the withdrawal fee is EUR 3 per request.

Atlantic Securities Trading Platforms

For local markets the firm publishes a web based trading platform, a desktop order entry application and a separate account management tool that is not used for trading. International market clients use the global trading platform provided through the Interactive Brokers relationship, together with a client portal. None of the common third party retail foreign exchange terminals is offered.

Atlantic Securities Deposits and Withdrawals

Funding runs through the banking system rather than through cards or electronic wallets. Withdrawals are requested on a signed payment request naming the client's own bank account, supported by an IBAN certificate and identification, and the published charge is EUR 3 per request.

Atlantic Securities Pros and Cons

• Authorised by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under licence 005/03, with the operating entity named and its registration confirmed.
• More than twenty years of continuous operation, with a listed insurance company as its parent.
• Commission schedules for both local and international markets are published in detail rather than summarised.
• The offering is exchange traded securities, so a client seeking leveraged foreign exchange or contracts for difference is not the intended audience.
• Account opening is document based rather than online, and no minimum deposit is stated.

Atlantic Securities Review and Assessment

Atlantic Securities is a long established Cyprus broker whose identity, ownership and regulatory position are all consistent and open to inspection. The most important thing to settle before opening an account is product fit: this is an agency securities broker charging commission on exchange traded instruments, and on the international route the account is opened with a third party firm to which Atlantic Securities introduces clients. Read the fee schedules and the account opening disclosures first, because the total cost of a small trade is driven by the per order minimums rather than by the headline percentage.