FSA Seychelles

The Financial Services Authority of Seychelles regulates non-bank financial services in the Republic of Seychelles under the Financial Services Authority Act 2013. Its Securities Dealer Licence, issued under the Securities Act 2007, has become one of the most widely held licences in retail forex — often as the entity that serves clients outside Europe while a sister company holds a European licence for EU residents.

What the licence requires

A Securities Dealer must maintain minimum capital, appoint at least two directors and a locally resident compliance officer, submit audited financial statements annually, and satisfy the FSA's fit-and-proper assessment of its beneficial owners. Client funds must be held separately from the licensee's own assets. The FSA has published enforcement notices and revoked licences, so supervision is not nominal.

What the licence does not carry is the ongoing prudential reporting, product intervention power and conduct rulebook that characterise tier-one regimes. There is no equivalent of the FCA's client assets sourcebook, and no regulator-mandated audit of how segregation is actually operated day to day.

Leverage and retail protections

No leverage cap applies. Seychelles entities commonly advertise 500:1, 1000:1 or unlimited leverage on certain account types. Client classification, suitability assessment and standardised risk warnings are not required. Negative balance protection, where offered, is a contractual term.

If a broker fails

There is no investor compensation scheme. A client's claim would be an unsecured claim in a Seychelles liquidation unless segregation was correctly maintained and documented. Practical recovery prospects are poor, and the cost of pursuing a claim usually exceeds a retail account balance.

Verifying a licence

The FSA publishes a list of licensed securities dealers and, separately, a list of entities it has warned about. Both matter. Match the entity name and licence number from the broker's footer against the register, then check that the same entity is named in the client agreement you are asked to accept. Multi-entity groups routinely show a European licence on the homepage and route non-EU clients to the Seychelles company at signup — ProForexBrokers.com reads the agreement rather than the homepage for exactly this reason.

Who a Seychelles broker suits

The licence suits traders who want high leverage, fast onboarding and access to instruments European rules restrict, and who accept that the broker's own balance sheet is the protection. It is a reasonable choice for a small, deliberately sized speculative account. It is a poor choice for a trader's main capital.