Banks, Investments, Legislation, Lithuania

Royal Forex LTD is registered in Cyprus and operates under a license issued in this country, meaning that the Bank of Lithuania cannot restrict activity of the Cyprus-based main company or its subsidiary in Lithuania, in response to residents' complaints. But the central bank has already turned to Cypriot watchdog institutions and Lithuania's criminal police over this company, and the police institution is carrying out an investigation.

Ilja Kremer, head of Royal Forex Limited's Lithuanian subsidiary, told the LRT the Lithuanian branch does not accept any responsibility for lost funds as it only registers clients. In his words, some clients have already received compensation payouts standing at around 10% of the lost money.

Lithuanian banks registered over 230 investment fraud cases last year, and their clients lost around 2.3 mln euros, figures from the Association of Lithuanian Banks show.