Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
5/10 · ModerateGenuine Labuan investment bank licence confirmed on the Labuan FSA directory with matching entity, office, phones and e-mail, but Labuan is a low-tier offshore jurisdiction with no deposit insurance or retail compensation scheme.
Identity & transparency
3/10 · LowRegistry number, incorporation date, registered office and principal officer are all on official record and match the website, though the current site names no directors and publishes no terms.
Withdrawals & conduct
3/10 · LowNo first-person fund-integrity complaint tied to this entity on any independent platform; one aggregator carries unverified withdrawal-delay themes that could not be matched to it.
Reputation
5/10 · ModerateAlmost no independent consumer footprint, and the brand has repeatedly been attached by third-party schemes that Malaysia's Securities Commission has since blacklisted.
Website claims
4/10 · ModerateThe licence and the 2008 founding date both check out, but the site offers no register verification link, no legal pages, and a European styling for a Malaysian offshore bank.
Operational history
2/10 · LowBoth legs verified at 2008: company created 24 October 2008 and the original domain registered 12 November 2008, with continuous archived site history since June 2009.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: EC Investment Bank (ECIB, ECIB Bank)
- Legal entity: European Credit Investment Bank Ltd.
- Registered: Brumby Centre, Lot 42, Jalan Muhibbah, 87000 Labuan, Malaysia (Labuan registry number LL06792, incorporated 24 October 2008)
- Offices: Level 6G(2), Main Office Tower, Financial Park Labuan, by appointment only; marketing office at Mercu Aspire, Jalan Bangsar, KL Eco City, Kuala Lumpur
- Website: ecibank.com, previously ecibl.com (registered November 2008, still serving the same site)
- Only licence: Labuan investment bank licence 090099BI, Labuan Financial Services Authority, Malaysia
- Offers: investment banking and corporate advisory, wealth management, custodian services, digital asset solutions
- Not accepted: no retail trading platform, no client login, no online deposit facility, offices by appointment only
- Named on official record: Yeo See Chin, principal officer; Ken Lim, executive director, named in the bank's own May 2023 press release
- Age claim: 'since 2008', verified against both the company registry entry and the domain record
Regulation
Who really oversees this broker, and what each licence is worth to you.
Proof of regulation on an official register: Yes
We confirmed this broker on a genuine regulator’s register.
Licences the broker publishes
Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA)
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
Two primary sources settle the central question, and both point the same way.
- The licence is real and it is this operation's own. European Credit Investment Bank Ltd. appears on the Labuan Financial Services Authority's directory of Labuan banks and investment banks. The official Labuan IBFC record for the same entity lists the Financial Park Labuan office, the Labuan and Kuala Lumpur telephone numbers and an @ecibank.com e-mail. Every one of those matches the site. That closes the impersonation test on all three legs: name, domain and contacts.
- The history is genuine, not advertised. The Global LEI Index records the entity as active, registered with the Labuan FSA Corporate Online Registry as LL06792, created on 24 October 2008. The original domain ecibl.com was registered on 12 November 2008 and has continuous archived site history from June 2009 to today under one brand, with no parked period and no earlier unrelated business. The newer ecibank.com domain is explained by the bank's own May 2021 notice announcing the change of website and e-mail from ecibl.com, and both domains run on the same name servers.
- Nothing adverse on any authority list. The Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List, the Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List and the Labuan FSA enforcement, business-restriction and unauthorised-entity pages carry no entry for this entity, its brand or either domain. A search of the major international warning lists returns nothing either.
- The complaints attach to other operations, not to this one. Searching the brand name turns up scam material, but it resolves to different companies: EC Markets at ecmarkets.com, and the schemes Herzen (herzen-int.com) and PrimaFx (primafxonline.com). The Securities Commission Malaysia names both of those schemes on its alert list for unlicensed capital-market activity. Both had promoted this bank as holding their funds in custody, and the bank publicly denied any relationship with them in January 2022. We found no first-person complaint anywhere that is tied to ecibank.com, ecibl.com or European Credit Investment Bank Ltd.
What keeps this at an elevated-caution rather than a clean reading is the shape of the business, not misconduct we found.
- A Labuan investment bank licence is a low-tier offshore permission. Labuan banks sit outside Malaysia's PIDM deposit insurance and there is no retail investor compensation scheme, so a Labuan licence is a long way from the protection a UK or Australian licence gives.
- The bank's own May 2023 press release describes it as a provider of custodian services and states plainly that it does not exercise regulatory or supervisory oversight over its clients' activities. That is an honest disclosure, and it is also the exact gap that promoters exploit: an ECIB custody arrangement says nothing about whether the scheme selling it to you is legitimate.
- The current four-page website names no directors, publishes no terms and conditions, and gives no link to the Labuan FSA register for licence 090099BI. The earlier version of the site carried a leadership page and a brokerage division with trading platforms; both are gone.
- There is almost no independent consumer footprint. That is consistent with an institutional bank that sees clients by appointment and sells no retail trading product, but it does mean the conduct assessment rests on an absence of complaints rather than on positive evidence of good conduct. That is why confidence is medium rather than high.
The licence number itself is worth one note. The Labuan FSA directory publishes names, addresses and contacts but not licence numbers, so 090099BI comes from the bank's own disclosures and from the description of the bank filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in May 2025. The entity's presence on the register is confirmed; the number is not independently printed by the issuer.
Risk-profile adjustment: the evidence-based score was 25%. It is presented as 65% because no reviews of any kind across 4 platforms, which our policy treats as elevated risk regardless of how little was found against this broker.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1European Credit Investment Bank Ltd. is listed on the Labuan Financial Services Authority's own directory of Labuan banks and investment banks, confirming it is a currently licensed Labuan investment bank.
E2The official Labuan IBFC entity record for the bank publishes the Financial Park Labuan office, the Labuan number 087-412 886, the KL marketing office at Mercu Aspire, the number 03-2779 0572 and the e-mail ecibpo@ecibank.com, all matching the website under review. The impersonation test passes on name, domain and contacts.
E3The Global LEI Index records European Credit Investment Bank Ltd. as an ACTIVE Labuan company limited by shares, registered with the Labuan FSA Corporate Online Registry as LL06792, created on 24 October 2008, at Brumby Centre, Lot 42, Jalan Muhibbah, 87000 Labuan.
E4The original domain ecibl.com was registered on 12 November 2008, nineteen days after the company was incorporated, and the newer ecibank.com on 23 January 2018. Both run on the same name servers, confirming one operator.
E5Archived copies of ecibl.com run continuously from 23 June 2009 to 2026 with no parked period, no gap and no earlier unrelated business, so the domain has carried this one brand throughout.
E6A bilingual notice dated 31 May 2021 on the bank's own site announces that its official website and e-mail moved from ecibl.com to ecibank.com, with the old addresses decommissioned from 1 January 2022. This explains the newer domain as a documented branding change rather than a fresh operation.
E7The Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List contains no entry for European Credit Investment Bank, EC Investment Bank, ECIB, ecibank.com or ecibl.com.
E8The same Securities Commission Malaysia list does name Herzen (2022, herzen-int.com, unlicensed dealing in securities) and PrimaFx with PrimaFx Academy (2021, primafxonline.com, unlicensed capital-market activity). Both schemes had advertised this bank as providing custody for their funds, and both are separate operations on separate domains.
E9The Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List contains no entry for European Credit Investment Bank, EC Investment Bank, ECIB, ecibank.com or ecibl.com.
E10The Labuan FSA pages for enforcement actions against licensed entities, business restrictions on licensed entities, and unregulated or unauthorised individuals, entities, websites and funds carry no entry for this bank or either of its domains.
E11The bank published its own alert on 4 June 2021 stating that its branding had been used by unauthorised parties in marketing material for investment products, and that it does not manage funds for third-party companies. Further alerts followed in January 2022, naming the parties it disclaimed, and in May 2024, when it said it had lodged a police report over accusations made against it.
E12In a press release dated 2 May 2023, issued after what it called recent inquiries from the general public about its roles and obligations, the bank describes itself as an investment bank providing custodian services and states that it does not exercise direct regulatory or supervisory oversight over its clients' activities. Its executive director is named as Dr Ken Lim.
E13A Form 8-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 29 May 2025 describes European Credit Investment Bank as a full-fledged, global facing mid-shore investment bank in Labuan, Malaysia licensed by the Labuan Financial Services Authority, and documents an April 2025 joint venture in which the bank holds 51 per cent.
E14The bank's current website is four pages. It states licence 090099BI and approval by the Ministry of Finance and Labuan FSA since 2008 in its footer, but publishes no link to the regulator's register, no terms and conditions, no named directors, and an Our Team section with no team members in it.
E15The website offers investment banking, wealth management and digital asset solutions with offices by appointment only. There is no trading platform, no client login and no deposit page, so the operation does not currently present itself as a retail trading venue. Its 2021 site did carry a Brokerage section with Trading and Platforms pages.
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
Here is the fair case for caution, and the honest answer to each part of it.
- The name invites a misreading. 'European Credit Investment Bank' is not a European institution and not a high-street bank. It is a Malaysian offshore company in Labuan. Anyone who reads the name as implying European supervision is being misled by the branding, even though the bank does state Labuan FSA licensing on every page.
- Offshore means thin protection. Labuan is a mid-shore and offshore centre. The licence is genuine, but if this institution failed, there is no deposit guarantee and no compensation scheme standing behind client money. For a retail saver that is a material difference from an onshore bank.
- A custodian that does not supervise its clients is a credibility prop. On the bank's own account it provides safekeeping and settlement and does not oversee what its clients do. At least two entities that invoked it, Herzen and PrimaFx, were later named by the Securities Commission Malaysia. The bank denies any relationship with either and says it lodged a police report over accusations made against it in May 2024. We found no regulator or court finding against the bank. But the pattern is real enough that the bank has published four separate alerts about its name being used, and that is a risk a reader should price in.
- The site has gone backwards on disclosure. The 2021 version listed leadership and a brokerage arm. The current version has a team section with no team in it, no legal pages and no verification link. Less disclosure is not evidence of wrongdoing, but it is less for an outsider to check.
- A quiet record is not a clean record. No Trustpilot profile exists for either domain, and there is no first-person account on Reddit, ForexPeaceArmy or Malaysian consumer forums. For a by-appointment institutional bank that is unsurprising. It still means we cannot show that clients have been paid out, only that nobody has publicly said they were not.
Against all of that: the entity is on its regulator's own list, the register's contact details match the website, the company has existed since October 2008, the LEI was renewed in September 2026, a US-listed company filed a joint venture agreement with it in 2025, and three Malaysian authorities have nothing on it. That combination is very difficult for a scam operation to assemble and maintain for eighteen years.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
Concrete findings that would move this verdict:
- Toward a negative verdict: an entry for European Credit Investment Bank Ltd, ecibank.com or ecibl.com on the Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List, the Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List, or any Labuan FSA enforcement or business-restriction notice.
- Removal of the entity from the Labuan FSA directory of banks and investment banks, or a Labuan FSA notice revoking or restricting licence 090099BI.
- Two or more independent, dated, first-person accounts naming ecibank.com or European Credit Investment Bank Ltd and describing funds not returned, with amounts and dates. A single credible report of a further payment demanded before a release of funds would be decisive on its own.
- Evidence that the bank knowingly provided custody or banking cover to a scheme it knew to be unlicensed, as opposed to the arm's-length relationship it describes.
- Confirmation that its digital asset offering operates outside the scope of what Labuan FSA has approved for this licence.
- Toward a cleaner reading: the bank publishing a direct register verification link for licence 090099BI, restoring named directors and terms and conditions, and an independent on-site confirmation of staffed offices at the Financial Park Labuan and KL Eco City addresses.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
Labuan FSA Financial Institutions Directory (Labuan banks and investment banks)
The regulator's own list. European Credit Investment Bank Ltd. appears under the banks and investment banks filter.
Labuan IBFC official entity record for European Credit Investment Bank Ltd.
Official record carrying the bank's Labuan office, both telephone numbers, the KL marketing office and its e-mail address.
GLEIF Global LEI Index record (LEI 984500DC696U6AVE1509)
Confirms the Labuan registry number LL06792, the 24 October 2008 incorporation date and active status.
Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List
Check any Malaysian investment offer here. The bank is absent; the schemes Herzen and PrimaFx are listed.
Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List
The central bank's list of entities and schemes to avoid. No entry for this bank or either domain.
Labuan FSA enforcement actions
Where Labuan licence revocations, business restrictions and unauthorised-entity notices are published.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is EC Investment Bank a scam?
No. European Credit Investment Bank Ltd is a genuinely licensed Labuan investment bank and it appears by name on the Labuan Financial Services Authority's own directory of licensed banks and investment banks. The official Labuan record publishes the same office address, telephone numbers and ecibank.com e-mail as the website, so the licence belongs to this operation. It is not a retail forex broker, and a Labuan licence gives you much weaker protection than an onshore one.
Is EC Investment Bank a fraud?
We found no evidence of fraud. There is no regulator warning, no enforcement action and no fraud-related court record naming European Credit Investment Bank Ltd or either of its domains. We checked the Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List, the Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List and the Labuan FSA enforcement, business-restriction and unauthorised-entity lists, and searched the major international warning lists. All came back clean.
Is EC Investment Bank regulated?
Yes, by the Labuan Financial Services Authority in Malaysia, as a Labuan investment bank under licence number 090099BI. The entity is listed on the Labuan FSA directory of Labuan banks and investment banks. It is not licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia, so it is not authorised for onshore Malaysian retail capital-market business.
What is a Labuan investment bank licence actually worth?
Less than it sounds. Labuan FSA is a real statutory regulator and the licence is a genuine permission, but Labuan is an offshore and mid-shore centre aimed at cross-border and institutional business. Labuan banks sit outside Malaysia's PIDM deposit insurance and there is no retail investor compensation scheme. If something went wrong, there is no safety net of the kind a UK or Australian licence provides.
Is my money safe with EC Investment Bank?
The institution is real and currently licensed, which is the first thing to establish. Beyond that, the honest answer is that your money is not protected by any deposit guarantee or compensation scheme, and we found no public record either way of clients being paid out or refused. Get the contracting entity, the account name and the governing law in writing before you transfer anything.
Can I withdraw my money from EC Investment Bank?
We found no credible first-person report of a withdrawal being refused or stalled by this entity on any independent platform. One broker aggregator lists unverified withdrawal-delay themes, but nothing we could tie to this bank with dates, amounts or specifics. If you hit a problem, deal directly with the bank on its published Labuan number and keep written records.
Is EC Investment Bank a forex broker?
Not today. The current website offers investment banking, wealth management, custodian services and digital asset solutions. There is no trading platform, no client login and no deposit page, and the offices are by appointment only. An earlier version of the site did carry a brokerage division with trading platforms, but that has been removed. Anyone offering you an EC Investment Bank trading account or app is not offering what this bank publishes.
Who owns and runs EC Investment Bank?
The official Labuan record names Yeo See Chin as principal officer. The bank's own May 2023 press release names Ken Lim as executive director. Beneficial ownership is not published, and the current website names no directors at all, which is a step back from its earlier version that carried a leadership page.
How old is EC Investment Bank?
About eighteen years, and that is verified rather than taken from the About page. The company was created in Labuan on 24 October 2008 under registry number LL06792, and its original domain ecibl.com was registered on 12 November 2008. Archived copies of the site run continuously from June 2009 to the present under the same brand.
Is EC Investment Bank a European bank?
No, despite the name. European Credit Investment Bank Ltd is a Labuan company incorporated in Malaysia, with its registered office in Labuan and a marketing office in Kuala Lumpur. It holds no European licence and is not supervised by any European regulator. If the name led you to expect European supervision, that expectation is wrong.
Is EC Investment Bank a clone of another firm?
No. We ran the full check: the entity name on the regulator's record, the website recorded against it and the published contact details all match the site under review. The Labuan FSA record carries an ecibank.com e-mail address, the same Financial Park Labuan office and the same two phone numbers the site shows. It is not wearing another firm's credentials.
Someone told me my investment is held in custody by EC Investment Bank. Is that true?
Verify it with the bank directly before you believe it. This is the single most common way the name is misused. The bank has published alerts in June 2021, January 2022 and May 2024 stating that unauthorised parties have used its branding in marketing material and that it does not manage funds for third-party companies. In January 2022 it specifically disclaimed any relationship with Herzen and Prima.
Which schemes have used the EC Investment Bank name?
Two are on the public record. Herzen, at herzen-int.com, was added to the Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List in 2022 for unlicensed dealing in securities, and had claimed this bank provided custody for its funds. PrimaFx and PrimaFx Academy, at primafxonline.com, were added in 2021 for unlicensed capital-market activity. The bank itself is not on that list and publicly denied any relationship with either.
What should I check before dealing with EC Investment Bank?
Four things. Confirm the entity on the Labuan FSA directory yourself. Confirm you are dealing with ecibank.com and not a look-alike. Confirm in writing which legal entity you are contracting with and where your money will sit. And if a third party is the one invoking the bank's name, phone the bank on its published number and ask before you send anything.
What do I do if I was scammed by someone using the EC Investment Bank name?
Report it to the Securities Commission Malaysia and to Bank Negara Malaysia, and lodge a police report in Malaysia if the money moved there. Tell your own bank or card issuer immediately, because a fast chargeback or recall is often the only realistic route to recovery. Keep every message, receipt and wallet address. Never pay anyone who promises to recover your funds for an upfront fee, which is a second scam built on the first.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
Our advice to anyone approached in this bank's name:
- Check the entity, not the brand. Only European Credit Investment Bank Ltd, at ecibank.com or ecibl.com, is the licensed entity. Confirm it yourself on the Labuan FSA directory of Labuan banks and investment banks before you act on anything.
- Be most careful about the third party, not the bank. If an investment scheme, fund or broker tells you that EC Investment Bank holds or custodies your money, contact the bank directly on its published Labuan number and ask. It has stated publicly that it does not manage funds for third-party companies, and it has published alerts about exactly this.
- Run any Malaysian investment offer past the Securities Commission Malaysia Investor Alert List and the Bank Negara Malaysia Financial Consumer Alert List. Herzen and PrimaFx both appear there, and both had used this bank's name.
- Do not treat this as a retail trading account. There is no trading platform, no client login and no online deposit facility. Anyone offering you an 'EC Investment Bank' trading account or app is not offering what this bank publishes.
- Understand the protection on offer. A Labuan bank licence is not covered by Malaysia's deposit insurance and carries no investor compensation scheme. Size any commitment accordingly, and get the contracting entity, the account name and the governing law in writing before transferring funds.
- Our own record needs correcting. This broker is on file as unregulated with no licences and no founding year. It should be recorded as an offshore-licensed Labuan investment bank, licence 090099BI, established 2008, and it is not a retail forex broker.
This is an independent assessment of risk, not a legal ruling. Scores and verdicts follow the Wikilix broker-safety methodology and can change as new evidence appears. Review scores are treated with caution when a broker’s reviews look manipulated. Last reviewed October 5, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.
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