How to check a broker’s regulatory claim

Almost every broker’s website carries a regulator’s name and a licence number, usually in the footer. That is a claim, not proof. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority warns that fraudsters set up “clone firms” that use the name and address of a genuine firm, copy its firm reference number, or copy its website with small changes, such as a different phone number.1

The checks below take about ten minutes. Run them in order, and use only details you find on the regulator’s own website.

1. Find out which company you would contract with

A trading brand is not a legal person. Behind it sit one or more companies, often in different countries, and each holds its own licence or none at all. Look for the legal entity name, company number and licence number in the website footer, in the client agreement and on the account application form. Write down the entity that would hold your account: it is the only licence that matters to you.

We explain how brands, entities and licences fit together in Brand, entity, licence.

2. Search the regulator’s register yourself

Go to the regulator’s website directly, by typing the address or searching for the regulator, never through a link the broker provides. Then search its register for the entity name and the licence number.

Regulator	Where to look
Financial Conduct Authority (UK)	The Financial Services Register, a public record of firms and individuals that are, or have been, authorised by the FCA or the PRA.3
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission	The list of Cyprus investment firms, which shows each firm’s licence number, licence date, registration number and approved trade names.4
Australian Securities and Investments Commission	The professional registers search, which covers Australian financial services licensees and their authorised representatives.6

Other regulators keep their own registers. Our broker directory links to each regulator’s official website.

3. Match every detail, not just the number

A number that exists on the register is not enough, because clones copy real numbers. The FCA advises checking that the contact details you have been given match the ones on its register.2 Compare the legal name, the registered address, the phone number and the website address. CySEC also publishes a list of the website domains approved for each Cyprus investment firm.5 A website that is not on the approved list for the licence it quotes is a reason to stop.

4. Check that the licence covers what you are buying

An authorisation lists specific permissions. The FCA’s guidance is to check that a firm is authorised and has permission for the product or service it is selling you.2 A firm permitted to give advice, for example, is not necessarily permitted to deal in contracts for difference with you or to hold your money.

5. Look for warnings

Regulators publish warnings about firms operating without authorisation. On the FCA’s register, a published warning about an unauthorised firm appears when you search for that firm.2 The International Organization of Securities Commissions runs I-SCAN, a network that collects alerts from its member regulators about firms that are not authorised in their jurisdictions.7

Treat the absence of a warning with care. Unauthorised firms change their names often, and a warning list only shows what a regulator already knows about.

6. Understand what you lose if the claim fails

Protection usually depends on dealing with an authorised firm. In the UK, the FCA states that if you deal with a firm that is not authorised, or lacks permission for the activity, you will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman, and you will not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the firm goes out of business.2

How our profiles record these checks

Every licence on a Trading Trust Index profile carries one of three labels: verified on the register, with the date we checked; claimed by the firm but not yet verified; or not found on the register. A licence we have not checked is never shown as verified, and we link to the register entry so that you can check it yourself.