FSPR
Updated:
The FSPR is a New Zealand public register, not a licence — offshore brokers used it as a substitute for regulation for years. The brokers below appear on it.
Brokers regulated by FSPR
CMC MarketsRead review- No differentiating advantages are identified for CMC Markets.
The Financial Service Providers Register is a public list maintained by the New Zealand Companies Office. Any firm meeting basic criteria can be entered on it. It involves no assessment of capital, no review of directors, no supervision and no ongoing obligations of the kind a licence brings.
The gap it created
For years offshore brokers advertised FSPR registration as though it were New Zealand regulation. A registration number, a New Zealand address and a page saying "registered in New Zealand" produced an impression of tier-one oversight that the register never provided, and the register filled with entities that had no New Zealand business at all.
The Financial Markets Authority now has statutory power to deregister firms with no genuine connection to New Zealand, and has used it repeatedly. That has cleaned up the register considerably, but the underlying distinction remains the important one.
What actually counts in New Zealand
A Derivatives Issuer Licence under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. To hold one, a firm must satisfy the FMA on the fitness and propriety of its directors and senior managers, demonstrate adequate financial resources, and hold client money in a statutory trust account with a New Zealand registered bank.
That statutory trust is the substantive protection, and it is stronger than the contractual segregation most jurisdictions require, because the trust is created by law and protects client money from the issuer's creditors directly. Licensed issuers must also produce and maintain a Product Disclosure Statement in prescribed form on the Disclose register.
What New Zealand does not provide
No statutory retail leverage cap — licensed issuers commonly offer 100:1 to 500:1 — and no investor compensation scheme. The trust account is the protection.
How to check
Search the FMA's licensed derivatives issuers list, not the FSPR, then confirm the Product Disclosure Statement on Disclose is current. ProForexBrokers.com treats "registered on the FSPR" without a derivatives issuer licence as a claim that has been dressed up, and scores it accordingly.