FSC

Financial Services Commission is a name shared by several offshore regulators, and a broker page saying "FSC regulated" has not told you which. The three that appear most often in retail forex differ enough that treating them as equivalent is a mistake.

Belize

The International Financial Services Commission licenses securities dealing. Requirements: minimum paid-up capital, assessment of directors and beneficial owners, a local agent and registered office, audited annual accounts, anti-money-laundering compliance and client fund segregation. No leverage cap, no compensation scheme. Enforcement notices are published and licences have been revoked.

Mauritius

The Financial Services Commission licenses forex brokers as Investment Dealers, usually inside a Global Business Company. It imposes the heaviest substance requirements of the three: at least two resident directors, a licensed management company, board meetings held in Mauritius and audited accounts. Those rules were rebuilt after the country's 2020 FATF grey-listing and its removal in October 2021. Still no leverage cap and no compensation scheme.

British Virgin Islands

The Financial Services Commission issues Investment Business Licences, commonly Category 1 for dealing in investments, requiring fitness and propriety assessment, minimum capital, an authorised representative in the territory, segregation and audited accounts. Between Belize and Mauritius in weight. No leverage cap, no compensation scheme.

What none of them provide

A leverage limit, mandatory negative balance protection, client classification, appropriateness testing, or any investor compensation fund. In all three, client fund segregation and the firm's own capital are what stand behind the balance, and recovery in a failure runs through local insolvency proceedings a retail client cannot practically use.

How to check

Establish the country, then search that commission's own register for the exact legal entity from your client agreement, and confirm the category authorises dealing rather than only advising or arranging. ProForexBrokers.com lists Belize, Mauritius and the British Virgin Islands separately because the shared acronym conceals real differences in what a firm had to do to hold the licence.