Twenty-four CFD brokers close after misuse of UK authorization
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has targeted 24 Contracts for Differences firms misusing their UK authorizations to market offshore entities. Twenty-one brokers have closed since 2025, while three additional firms are currently cancelling their regulatory permissions.
Borrowing the British badge
The regulator intervened against firms that maintained minimal domestic operations while using their UK regulatory status to make linked overseas entities appear trustworthy.
This practice led retail investors to believe they were dealing directly with a UK-regulated entity with statutory protections.
The FCA imposed restrictions on trading, mandated independent business reviews and initiated formal enforcement investigations into the two most serious cases.
“When firms blur the lines between their UK-regulated activities and overseas businesses, we will step in,” said Dominic Holland, director of sell-side supervision at the FCA.
“These closures show we're prepared to take action to protect consumers.”
High leverage and offshore redirection
The crackdown follows a multi-year supervisory campaign on high-risk derivative products.
The FCA restricted retail CFD sales in 2019, set sector priorities in 2024 and issued warnings in 2025 about investors losing protections via offshore redirection.
CFDs involve high leverage and volatile underlying assets, which can generate rapid retail losses.
The watchdog urged investors to use its online Firm Checker to verify that counterparties hold direct UK permissions rather than similar overseas trade names.
Renting credibility ends here
Revoking shell permissions closes a persistent loophole that brokers used to mask offshore risk.
Targeting two dozen entities signals an overdue shift from passive licensing to active market cleanup.
Yet true consumer safety still requires retail traders to verify registrations before depositing funds.