Australian Securities & Investment Commission

Founded in July 1998, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission(ASIC) is now positioned as the national corporate regulator supervising Australia’s corporations, markets, and financial services in accordance with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001. 

ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services including banks, credit unions and mortgage and finance brokers, and enforce laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors in a bid to create a fair and equitable financial market. 

To be able to operate in Australia or offer financial services to Australians, brokers are required to hold a valid Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence. The most important reason why a multitude of leading forex brokers choose ASIC as their regulatory agency is that it works to protect their interests. Moreover, the brokers also want to make use of the highly lucrative Australian market. 

ASIC has become one of the most competent broker regulation standards worldwide. It has quite strict requirements, including risk limitation, bonus prohibition, and consumer enlightenment. 

However, in recent times ASIC has become the subject of criticism by consumers, consumer advocates and public officials over its inaction and inefficiencies in protecting consumers from large financial instiutions. 

1. Safety of Client Funds：

A segregated account at a tier 1 bank.

2. Requirement on Forex Brokers' Initial Capital: 

A minimum operational fund of 1 Million USD.

3. Requirement on Forex Brokers' Reports：

Annual audit report; Monthly income statement; Monthly balance sheet; Daily, monthly and annual customer transaction report.

4. Others：

A physical office that can be visited in Australia; Risk limitation; Bonus prohibition; Consumer enlightenment.

Generally speaking, ASIC-regulated broker profile will be found at https://service.asic.gov.au/search/. Try to find it and check if it will match the info from the broker website.

The detailed steps are as follow:

1. Find the AFSL no. (preferred) or name of the forex broker, which you can get from the broker's website;

2. Enter the AFSL number or name into the search bar at https://service.asic.gov.au/search/, then click the Search button. You will see a list of companies appearing below the search bar.

3. Use the filters to help narrow down the information, making it easier to locate your target company precisely.

4. Firstly, you can click on the "!" button next to the company name to get basic information about the company. Secondly, you can click on the company name to go to a specific page with detailed information. Here, click on "Licence/Registration Conditions" and check if the broker is authorized to provide "foreign exchange contracts" or "derivatives" to retail clients. If not, the broker is unauthorized to provide forex trading services, so be cautious. If yes, proceed to the next step.

5. Get the "Membership Number" from the "External Dispute Resolution" section on the same page and go to https://my.afca.org.au/ff-search/. Enter the broker's AFCA Member number or name in the search bar to see the broker's profile. After completing the above steps, check if the firm's details on the ASIC and AFCA websites match those of the broker you plan to trade with, especially the website and email. If they don't match, avoid the broker as it is probably unauthorized and your money could be at risk.

When you have disputes with a ASIC-regulated broker, you can proceed the following ways:

1st way: The recommended way is to contact the broker directly and discuss with them to find a win-win solution.

2nd way: If you're not satisfied with the broker's solution, try to contact AFCA in Australia, which helps to solve the disputes between the forex broker and the investor.

Online Complaint Process Instruction: https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint

Online Complaint Form: https://ocf.afca.org.au

3rd way: If the first 2 ways above can't solve the dispute, the last way is to issue a case to the court in Australia.