Impact

How we check a broker's licence

What each line on a broker page means, where it comes from, and how often we look again.

Where the facts come from

  • Regulator registers. The official public registers of financial regulators: the FCA, CySEC, ASIC, BaFin, FSA Seychelles, FSC Mauritius and others. Where a regulator publishes a register we can read, we read it every week.
  • Company registries. Companies House and other official company registers, for a broker's legal entity, company number, status and date of incorporation.
  • The broker's own disclosures. What a broker publishes about itself, usually in its website's legal footer. We use it to know which regulator to look in; we only call a licence confirmed when the register shows it.

What each status means

  • Licence on record - the regulator's register lists the broker's company, and we hold its licence number.
  • Regulated - no licence numbers issued - the register lists the company, and this regulator does not issue numbers.
  • Registered, not licensed - the broker is on a register of companies kept by an authority that does not license brokers to deal with clients (for example a free zone, a chamber of commerce or a company register). Being on it is not a licence from a financial regulator.
  • Licence number not found - the broker says it is regulated by this regulator, and we have not found its licence number.
  • Claimed licence not confirmed - the broker says it holds a licence, and we could not confirm it on the regulator's register on the date shown.
  • No licence found - we checked the regulator registers on the date shown and found no licence for this broker. Registers change; this is not a finding about the broker's conduct.
  • Not yet checked - we have not yet checked this broker against the registers.

Last seen on the register is the date our weekly check last found the broker's licence on the register. A broker that drops off its regulator's register loses that date at the next check.

What we do not do

Impact does not rate, rank, recommend or endorse brokers, and gives no investment advice. We link to independent reviews and never quote or score them. We take no payment from brokers and use no affiliate links.

Corrections

If a page is wrong, tell us through our contact form, from the link at the bottom of the broker's page. We correct a page when the regulator's register or the company registry shows it.

Compiled from official regulator registers, company registries and the broker's own published disclosures. Each page shows the date it was built. Impact does not rate, recommend or endorse any broker and gives no investment advice. Always confirm a broker's licence directly with the regulator before opening an account. How we check a broker's licence.