Forex and Investments Regulatory Authorities around the world
Global Forex and Investments Regulatory Authorities
Forex Regulatory Authorities
No matter whether we are speaking about the investment industry or in particularly the forex industry,they are all overseen by regulatory authorities in their respective locations globally.
Globally seen, many countries are having their individual regulatory bodies. Samples of these could be Consob (Italy), Bafin (Germany) or many others. The were established to supervise the activities of the financial industries when it comes to forex trading or trading in general. Businesses which wish to promote forex trading services and wish to be approved by a regulatory are supposed to be compliant with the rules outlined by the regulated. Mostly, they are based on ensuring fair, legal and most of all managing a business in an ethical manner.
As all regulators have an outline set of rules, the brokers, investment banks or even signal sellers. Of course, the business which is providing the service must be registered in the country of the regulator. Regulators are allowed to evaluate business from time to time. They can demand audits or perform reviews to ensure that the broker meets the standard of the regulator. In addition, a regulator can obligate a broker to have a certain minimal capital which in certain cases has to be set aside to cover the clients interest in case a broker should appear to be in financial difficulties such as bankruptcy.
Naturally, each broker has its own restrictions. The mifid for example, the European regulator, states that a licences obtained by an EU member state applies to all the countries within the European Union. This would mean that if a French broker has a French license, it may operate in the whole of Europe. As many brokerages wish to cover multiple target markets in once, CySEC for example is a highly favorite as
it provides instant authorization to deal with European countries. Regulators may also, in case a violation is made by the broker, penalize him or her with fines. These fines could sometimes exceed 6 number amounts depending on the severity of the violation.
In general, the regulators aim to achieve the following:
– Retaining all information about the business owners and managers. By this, the regulator can supervise and monitor the company, its owners and directors and prevent them from applying unethical or illegal business practices. It protects everybody involved. The regulators are trying to maintain a healthy financial market across the globe. By being a regulated, they can be approached with concerns or complaints and this provides a certain level of protection to the trader.
When you are looking for a broker, the first thing you should do is to check how trustable a broker is. They should be stable and able to be trusted. Brokers which are regulated can in many cases be considered more credible due to the fact they are subject to a certain level of supervision. As so, in most cases you are more protected compared to opening an account with an offshore brokerage which has no regulation whatsoever. Of course, there are numerous additional factors which could be checked and thus, we would advise you to do some thorough “homework” before opening an account with a broker.
Country | Regulator’s website | |
---|---|---|
Hong Kong | Securities and Futures Commission | |
UK | Financial Services Authority (FSA) | |
Canada | The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) | |
France | The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) | |
Germany | Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BAFIN) | |
Bulgaria | Financial Supervision Commission | |
Gibraltar | Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) | |
Cyprus | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CYSEC) | |
Singapore | Monetary Authority of Singapore | |
Sweden | Finansinspektionen (FI) Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority | |
Australia | Australian Securities and Investments Commission | |
Switzerland | Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA | |
Japan | Financial Services Agency (FSA) | |
Belize | International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) | |
BVI | British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC) | |
Mauritius | Financial Services Commission Mauritius | |
Seychelles | Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA) |