How to Check Whether a Trading Provider Is Actually Regulated
A licence badge on a website proves nothing on its own. Here is the short, repeatable check that separates a genuinely authorised provider from a clone or an unlicensed operator.
A regulatory badge on a website is a claim, not proof. Anyone can copy a logo and a licence number. The work that matters takes five minutes and starts on the regulator's own site, never the provider's.
Start at the register, not the marketing page
Every serious regulator publishes a searchable register of the firms it authorises. Find the regulator named on the provider's site, open that regulator's register directly, and search for the exact legal entity, not just the brand name.
- Match the company number, not only the name. Clones reuse real names.
- Check that the permissions actually cover the service being sold to you.
- Note the registered address and compare it with what the provider claims.
The clone-firm pattern
The most common trap is a firm that borrows a licensed company's details to look authorised. If the register entry lists a different website, phone number or address than the provider gave you, treat that mismatch as the answer.
Before you deposit
- Confirm the entity on the regulator's register.
- Search the regulator's warning list for the same or similar names.
- Keep a dated screenshot of what you found.
None of this is a guarantee, but it removes the providers that fail the most basic test. This article is information and education only and is not financial, investment, trading, legal or tax advice.
Risk statement
Myfintec provides news and information only. Nothing on this site is financial, investment, trading, legal or tax advice. Markets carry risk, including total loss of capital. Always do your own research and consider independent professional advice before acting.