Israel’s Cabinet was presented with legislation over the weekend which will bar retail financial trading companies working out of the country from offering binary options to overseas customers as the noose tightens globally around rogue retail financial trading operators.

The move followed comments last week from the head of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA), who reportedly told a conference in Tel Aviv that the country needed to act to correct the impression that Israel was “turning a blind eye” to a product that in terms of reputation could be likened to “blood diamonds”.

The legislation was prefigured in February when a memorandum of law was published jointly by the ISA, the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Israeli attorney general, which suggested that binary options were “akin to gambling”.

In an unusual move, the bill was set to be voted on directly by the Cabinet instead of going through the ministerial committee for legislation. The new law will then head to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, for approval.

The proposals had apparently stalled at the committee stage due to lobbying from the industry. They were presented to the Cabinet by finance minister Moshe