Regulatory rating methodology
Three tiers, by what a licence actually obliges a broker to do for the customer.
Tier one
Authorities whose rules require segregated client money, negative balance protection for retail clients, and a statutory compensation scheme or its equivalent. The FCA, ASIC, CySEC and the other European MiFID regulators, the US CFTC and NFA, Japan's FSA, Singapore's MAS and Hong Kong's SFC are in this tier.
Tier two
Authorities with real supervision and conduct rules but with some of those protections missing, most often the compensation scheme. South Africa's FSCA, Mauritius's FSC, Kenya's CMA and the onshore UAE regulators are examples.
Tier three
Registrations that permit the business without doing much to protect the customer: the Seychelles FSA, the BVI and Belize FSCs, Vanuatu's VFSC and the Comoros MISA. A broker whose only licences are in this tier is classified as offshore regulated on this site.
How this reaches a broker's status
A broker with any Tier 1 licence is shown as regulated. A broker whose licences are all Tier 2 or 3 is shown as offshore regulated. A broker with no licence from any authority is shown as unregulated. The status is on every card, row and profile, and the licence behind it is one click away. Offshore regulation is not treated as a risk indicator on its own; the high-risk list is for brokers with no licence at all, or with an official warning or legal finding against them.