Who the FMC supervises
Any firm offering investment, trading, or derivatives services to the public must be licensed by the FMC and remain under continuous supervision.
Authorisation is a privilege, not a right. Before a firm can take a single penny from an investor it must satisfy the Commission that it is solvent, competently run, and capable of treating customers fairly. Once authorised, the firm enters a relationship of continuous supervision that lasts for as long as it serves the public. The breadth of our perimeter reflects how investors actually access markets today — through brokers, platforms, advisers, funds, and increasingly through crypto-asset venues.
Clearing Organizations
Clearing organisations (central counterparties) stand between buyers and sellers to guarantee the performance of transactions even if one party defaults. Because a failure here can cascade across the whole market, we hold them to the highest prudential standards. The FMC reviews their risk-management frameworks, default-management procedures, the adequacy of their default fund, stress-testing against extreme but plausible scenarios, and the protection and portability of margin held on behalf of customers.
Trading Venues
Registered trading venues must operate fair and orderly markets, maintain effective surveillance for manipulation and insider dealing, and provide transparent pre- and post-trade pricing. The FMC reviews each venue's rulebook, its arrangements for managing conflicts of interest, the resilience of its trading systems and circuit-breakers, and the completeness of its trade reporting. Venues must be able to suspend or halt trading in disorderly conditions and report suspicious activity to the Commission.
Intermediaries
Brokers, dealers, platforms, and investment advisers act as intermediaries between investors and the markets. They must meet conduct, disclosure, suitability, and capital standards, and must keep client money strictly segregated from their own. Advisers recommending products must assess whether a product is suitable and appropriate for the individual client, disclose all costs and charges, and act honestly, fairly, and professionally in the client's best interests at all times.
Categories of permission
Firms are not simply \
| Category | Typical activities | Indicative minimum capital |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory & arranging | Advising on and arranging investments; no client money held | £75,000 |
| Agency broker | Executing client orders on a matched-principal basis | £150,000 |
| Portfolio / fund manager | Discretionary management of client assets | £250,000 |
| Dealing as principal | Trading against clients; holding client money | £750,000 |
| Trading venue / CCP | Operating a market or clearing transactions | £7,500,000+ |
Figures are indicative base requirements. Actual capital is set by reference to the firm's activities, risk profile, and own-funds calculations under the FMC prudential sourcebook.
Registration Requirements
Firms seeking an FMC licence must demonstrate, among other things:
| Requirement | What the FMC reviews |
|---|---|
| Fit & proper management | Honesty, competence, and financial soundness of directors, senior managers, and controlling owners |
| Minimum capital | Adequate own funds to support operations, wind down in an orderly way, and absorb losses |
| Client fund segregation | Client money held in safeguarded accounts at approved banks, reconciled daily |
| Risk & compliance | Documented controls, an independent compliance function, AML/KYC procedures, and a full audit trail |
| Disclosure | Clear, fair, and non-misleading marketing with prominent risk warnings |
| Operational resilience | Business-continuity, cyber-security, and outsourcing controls |
Threshold conditions
Every authorised firm must meet, and continue to meet, the Commission's threshold conditions:
- Location of activities Location of activities — an effective UK establishment with its mind and management in the United Kingdom.
- Effective supervision Effective supervision — a structure that allows the FMC to supervise the firm effectively.
- Adequate resources Adequate resources — sufficient financial and non-financial resources for the activities carried on.
- Suitability Suitability — the firm and its managers are fit and proper and conduct business with integrity.
- Business model Business model — a sustainable model that is suitable for the regulated activities sought.
The authorisation lifecycle
Pre-application
The firm scopes the permissions it needs and prepares its regulatory business plan, financials, and policies.
Application & fee
A complete application is submitted with the prescribed fee. Incomplete applications are returned.
Assessment
Case officers test the business model, capital, controls, and the fitness of key individuals — often through interviews.
Determination
The FMC grants, grants with conditions, or refuses. Determinations are made within statutory time limits.
Go-live & supervision
On authorisation the firm appears on the public register and enters continuous, risk-based supervision.
Ongoing Supervision
A licence is not a one-time event. The FMC operates a risk-based model of supervision: the firms that pose the greatest potential harm to investors or to market integrity receive the closest, most continuous attention, while lower-risk firms are supervised through periodic returns and thematic reviews. Supervision is both proactive (planned reviews, data analysis, and horizon-scanning) and reactive (responding to complaints, surveillance alerts, whistleblower reports, and firm notifications).
Our supervisory toolkit
- Regulatory returns Regulatory returns — periodic financial and conduct data submitted by every firm.
- On-site examinations On-site examinations — in-depth inspections of books, records, and client-money controls.
- Thematic reviews Thematic reviews — cross-market studies of a specific risk, such as CFD marketing or custody.
- Skilled-person reports Skilled-person reports — independent expert reviews commissioned at the firm's expense.
- Attestations Attestations — personal accountability statements from senior managers.
Where a firm falls short, the Commission can escalate proportionately — from a supervisory letter, to imposing requirements or limitations on permissions, to suspending the licence, to a full referral to Enforcement. Enforcement.
Verify a firm
Search the public register to confirm a licence is active and see its exact permissions.
Open the registerReport a firm
Concerned about a licensed firm? File a complaint with evidence and we will review it.
File a complaintFrequently asked questions
How long does authorisation take?
A complete, good-quality application is determined within statutory time limits — typically up to six months, and longer where the application is complex or incomplete. Poorly prepared applications take far longer.
Does an FMC licence guarantee my money is safe?
No. Authorisation means a firm has met our standards and is supervised, but markets carry risk and no regulator can prevent every failure or fraud. It does, however, mean the firm must segregate client money and that eligible consumers may be protected by the compensation scheme if it fails.
What is \
Authorised firms must keep your money in separate, safeguarded bank accounts, ring-fenced from the firm's own funds and reconciled daily, so that it is identifiable and protected if the firm gets into difficulty.
A firm claims to be \
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