Regulation & Client ProtectionFMAFinancial Markets Authority
FMA New Zealand
New Zealand's conduct regulator, which licenses derivatives issuers and maintains the FSPR, a register that is not itself a licence.
What FMA New Zealand means
The Financial Markets Authority is New Zealand's conduct regulator for financial markets, licensing derivatives issuers under the Financial Markets Conduct Act. A broker offering CFDs or margin forex to New Zealand retail clients needs a derivatives issuer licence, which requires the FMA to be satisfied about governance, capability, capital and operational systems. Separately, all financial service providers must appear on the Financial Service Providers Register, a public list maintained by the Companies Office that records who is providing services and to which dispute resolution scheme they belong.
Licensed derivatives issuers must publish a product disclosure statement, hold retail client money in a separate trust account with a New Zealand registered bank, file audited financial statements, meet minimum net tangible asset requirements, and belong to an approved external dispute resolution scheme that can make binding awards up to a set limit. The FMA can impose licence conditions, issue stop orders on defective disclosure, and take court action, and it publishes warnings about entities misrepresenting their New Zealand status.
The critical distinction is that FSPR registration is not a licence and never has been. Offshore operators historically registered on the FSPR to advertise a New Zealand connection while holding no derivatives issuer licence and serving no New Zealand clients, and the law was amended to allow deregistration on that basis. New Zealand also imposes no retail leverage cap and has no investor compensation scheme, so a failed issuer leaves clients relying on the trust account and on the general insolvency process.
Worked example
A prospective client searches the FMA's licensed providers list rather than the FSPR alone. A firm appearing on the FSPR but absent from the derivatives issuer licence list is registered, not licensed, and offers none of the associated protections.
Related terms
- Offshore RegulationLicensing from low-oversight jurisdictions that permits high leverage but offers far weaker capital rules and client recourse.
- Leverage CapA regulatory ceiling on the leverage a broker may offer retail clients, varying widely between jurisdictions.
- Segregated AccountsClient money held in bank accounts separate from the broker's own funds, so it is not available to the firm's creditors.
- Financial OmbudsmanA free independent dispute resolution service that decides complaints against regulated firms, with decisions binding on the firm.
- Investor Compensation SchemeA statutory fund that pays eligible clients a capped amount when a regulated firm fails and cannot return their money.
Frequently asked questions
What does FMA New Zealand mean in forex trading?
New Zealand's conduct regulator, which licenses derivatives issuers and maintains the FSPR, a register that is not itself a licence.
How does FMA New Zealand work in practice?
Licensed derivatives issuers must publish a product disclosure statement, hold retail client money in a separate trust account with a New Zealand registered bank, file audited financial statements, meet minimum net tangible asset requirements, and belong to an approved external dispute resolution scheme that can make binding awards up to a set limit. The FMA can impose licence conditions, issue stop orders on defective disclosure, and take court action, and it publishes warnings about entities misrepresenting their New Zealand status.
What is an example of FMA New Zealand?
A prospective client searches the FMA's licensed providers list rather than the FSPR alone. A firm appearing on the FSPR but absent from the derivatives issuer licence list is registered, not licensed, and offers none of the associated protections.
Trade with a regulated broker
Understanding the terminology is the cheap part. The expensive part is choosing a counterparty whose execution, financing and withdrawal behaviour match what the marketing implies. Every broker below has been reviewed with a funded live account, and each review states which legal entity and which regulator applies to the account you would actually open.
Check the licence on the regulator's own register before you deposit — our regulators directory explains what each authority enforces, from leverage caps to compensation limits.