FCA closes 21 CFD brokers operating illegal offshore schemes

FCA shuts 21 CFD brokers for using UK licences to front offshore operations

The Financial Conduct Authority has cancelled the regulatory permissions of 21 contracts-for-difference brokers since 2025, with three more voluntarily surrendering their authorisations and two under active investigation, after a crackdown on firms that used FCA registration as a reputational shield for unregulated offshore counterparties.

The regulator confirmed the firms conducted negligible business inside the UK. Their model depended on customers believing they were dealing with a UK-regulated entity and would receive UK consumer protections, when the actual trading relationship sat with an offshore affiliate outside the FCA's jurisdiction. The FCA termed these arrangements "halo" firms after identifying in late 2024 that roughly 20 percent of locally registered CFD brokers were effectively inactive.

Dominic Holland, the FCA's director of sell-side supervision, said consumers must know exactly who they are dealing with and what protections apply. The action extends scrutiny that began with retail CFD restrictions in 2019 and continued through Consumer Duty rules introduced in 2023.