List of Financial Regulators

Your broker must be licensed by a financial regulator. Consult this list to determine which financial regulators you can trust.

What is financial regulation? Financial management regulation is your ultimate guarantee that your investments are entrusted to competent professionals. This list will assist you in identifying the most prominent, respected and dependable financial regulators and licensing authorities.

The governments of all major industrialized countries oversee their financial regulatory agencies in order to safeguard the interests of their citizens. They are subject to extensive executive, judicial, legislative, and public oversight. Their responsibilities include licensing of brokerages and brokers and monitoring their activities. That helps ensure maximum protection for investors.

The Most Respected Financial Regulators Include:

• Australia: Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Austria: Financial Market Authority/Finanz markt auf sichtsbehörd (FMA)
• Belgium: Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA)
• Canada: The various provincial authorities, the most prominent being the Ontario Securities Commission, the Autorité des marchés financiers in Quebec, the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Alberta Securities Commission, the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan, and the Manitoba Securities Commission
• Denmark: Financial Supervisory Authority/Finanstilsynet (DFSA)
• Finland: Financial Supervisory Authority/Finanssivalvonta (FIN-FSA)
• France: Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)
• Germany: Federal Financial Supervisory Authority/Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)
• Hong Kong: Securities and Futures Commission (SFC)
• Ireland: Central Bank of Ireland/Banc Ceannais na hÉireann
• Israel: Israel Securities Authority/רשות ניירות ערך (ISA)
• Italy: National Securities and Exchange Commission/Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB)
• Japan: Financial Services Agency/金融庁 Kin’yū-chō
• Luxembourg: Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)
• The Netherlands: Authority for Financial Markets /Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM)
• New Zealand: Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
• Norway: Financial Supervisory Authority/Finanstilsynet
• Portugal: Securities Market Commission/Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CMVM)
• Russian Federation: Central Bank of Russia
• Singapore: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• South Africa: Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
• Spain: National Securities Market Commission/La Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV)
• Sweden: Financial Supervisory Authority/Finansinspektionen
• Switzerland: Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
• Turkey: Capital Markets Board of Turkey/Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu
• United Kingdom: Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• United States: U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Beware of Ineffective and Fraudulent Regulators

Alert consumers should beware, however, that weak bodies calling themselves regulatory commissions may also exist. That is especially true in the offshore countries in which many online brokerages claim to be located. Due to the limited governmental infrastructure in these countries – which tend to be underpopulated and underfinanced – the capacity of such agencies to carry out its monitoring function is nominal at best and non-existent at worst.

In addition, some unscrupulous financial investment sites may claim to be members of or regulated by independent industry regulatory associations. In reality, these associations are fictitious. By mentioning them, the operators of these sites are attempting to assure you that the services they offer are reliable when, in fact, they are not.