#1
The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited
RegulatedBermudaEst. 1904BMA
Regulation
License
Spread
74.1Score
Twenty-two brokers in the WIKILIX database hold a licence from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, and this page lists every one of them, ranked by overall score. CIMA is an offshore regulator, classed here at tier 3, so a Cayman licence sits well below what the FCA or ASIC ask of a firm. That gap is the reason to read the whole register instead of a shortlist.
The 22 split cleanly. Ten hold a CIMA licence and nothing else in our records. The other twelve carry CIMA alongside other authorities, and eight of those hold at least one tier-1 licence. Bank of Scotland, which scores 70.3 and dates back to 1695, pairs its Cayman entry with the FCA. ANZ pairs it with ASIC. BTG Pactual is recorded against eight regulators at once, from FINRA to Singapore's MAS, and Vantage holds five, including ASIC and the FCA. For firms like these the Cayman registration is a secondary line, not the licence that protects a retail client.
Six of the 22 carry a status label we assign ourselves. Two are marked offshore, one carries a noRegulation label, and three are recorded as a suspiciousClone, including an entry stored in our database as Fake Tradeview. A Cayman licence on its own does not clear any of those flags, which is why a scraped best-CIMA-broker list tends to mislead.
| Broker | Score | Other licences held | Opened | Max leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | 70.3 | FCA | 1695 | 1:1 |
| ANZ | 61.6 | ASIC | 1970 | not recorded |
| BTG Pactual | 61.3 | FINRA, FCA, CNMV, SFC, MAS and more | 1983 | not recorded |
| Vantage | 60.5 | ASIC, FCA, FSCA, VFSC | 2012 | 1:500 |
| LION | 58.1 | SFC | 2016 | 1:400 |
| EBC | 54.7 | FCA, ASIC | 2020 | 1:500 |
| BitMart | 51.2 | FinCEN, SFC | 2017 | 1:100 |
| Capstone Global Markets | 40.6 | ASIC | 2012 | 1:1000 |
What a CIMA licence covers, and what this register required
This list is generated from a single filter: every active broker in the WIKILIX database recorded as holding a Cayman Islands Monetary Authority licence, whatever its status. Nothing is dropped for a low score or a flag, so what you are reading is a register rather than a recommendation. The order is the WIKILIX score, highest first. That score blends a broker's regulatory record and operating history with the other data we hold, and it does not measure a broker's spreads or the quality of its execution.
What tier-3 offshore regulation means for the reader
A tier-1 regulator such as the FCA caps retail leverage and stands behind a compensation scheme, and it publishes a register anyone can search. CIMA runs a lighter framework built for companies incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and the leverage recorded against this group makes the difference concrete: figures run from 1:100 up to 1:10000 for Capstone, many times the 1:30 cap a European retail client would meet. The median score across the 22 is 32.0, the full range runs from 17.5 to 70.3, and twelve of the firms opened before 2010, so a long history here is no guarantee of strong oversight.
What this list does not tell you
Holding a CIMA licence is not the same as accepting clients from your country, and this register cannot tell you who does. It also says nothing about deposit methods or spreads, and nothing about which specific entity you would actually contract with, which for several of these groups is not the Cayman company. Treat the licence as one fact to verify, not a verdict on the broker.
- Check whether the entity you sign with is the CIMA-licensed company or an unlicensed sister firm in another jurisdiction.
- Read the status flag beside any broker here first, and treat a suspiciousClone or noRegulation label as a reason to stop.
- Confirm the licence on CIMA's own public register rather than trusting a badge on the broker's website.
- Weigh a standalone Cayman licence against the eight firms here that also answer to a tier-1 authority.
17brokers on this list
Researched & ranked by the Wikilix team
- #2
Bank of Scotland plc
RegulatedUnited KingdomEst. 1695FCARegulationLicenseSpread72.8Score - #3
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited
RegulatedAustraliaEst. 1970ASIC
RegulationLicenseSpread64.6Score - #4
VANTAGE GLOBAL PRIME PTY LTD
RegulatedAustraliaEst. 2012ASIC
RegulationLicenseSpread63.1Score - #5
BTGPactual
RegulatedBrazilEst. 1983FINRA
RegulationLicenseSpread62.3Score - #6
Lion Brokers Limited
OffshoreCayman IslandsEst. 2016SFCRegulationLicenseSpread61.4Score - #7
EBC Financial Group (SVG) LLC
Suspicious CloneUnited KingdomEst. 2020FCA
RegulationLicenseSpread55.7Score - #8
BitMart
RegulatedCanadaEst. 2017FinCEN
RegulationLicenseSpread53.5Score - #9
Capital Markets Elite Group (KY) Limited
OffshoreCayman IslandsCIMARegulationLicenseSpread43.9Score - #10
Capstone Global Markets LLC
RegulatedAnguillaEst. 2012ASICRegulationLicenseSpread42.6Score - #11
Arqaam Capital
RegulatedEst. 2007DFSA
RegulationLicenseSpread41.9Score - #12
Tradeview LTD
Suspicious CloneEst. 2004CIMA
RegulationLicenseSpread41.8Score
This register rebuilds itself whenever a broker's licence record changes in the WIKILIX database, so a firm that gains or loses its Cayman licence appears or drops off without anyone editing the page. We recheck the underlying records regularly, and the status flags move with them.
If you came here to compare Cayman regulation against something stronger, the tier-1 regulated brokers list is the natural next step, since eight of the firms here also appear on tier-1 registers. To stay within the offshore world, the VFSC (Vanuatu) register covers a similar framework, and many of the multi-licensed names here also hold an ASIC licence.
Whatever the licence says, confirm it on the regulator's own register at cima.ky before you deposit. A licence recorded here reflects our data as of today, not a live read of CIMA's public database, and an offshore registration is the floor of broker oversight rather than a guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
Answers from the Wikilix research team about this ranking.
Most Popular Questions
On the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority's own public register at cima.ky, which lists the entities it currently licenses. Match the exact legal name shown on this page rather than the brand, because several groups here operate under a different company name in Cayman than the one they trade under. A licence recorded in our database is a starting point, not a substitute for that check.
Because our records show each of them holding a CIMA licence in addition to their main regulator, ANZ under ASIC and Bank of Scotland under the FCA. Large institutions often register a Cayman entity for specific business lines. Their presence here does not mean their retail service runs through the Cayman company, which is why the other licences each one holds matter more.
It is a status label WIKILIX records when a broker appears to imitate a legitimate firm's identity or licence. Three of the 22 brokers here carry it, including an entry stored as Fake Tradeview, while two more are flagged offshore and one carries a noRegulation label. Six of the 22 carry a flag of some kind. The flag is our own record, so verify it against the regulator directly.
This list cannot tell you. It is built from where each broker is licensed and domiciled, not from which countries it accepts clients in, and those are different things. A broker may hold a Cayman licence yet restrict or refuse traders from your region, or serve them through a separate entity. Check the broker's own terms and the register before opening an account.
Ten of the 22. In our records these firms carry a Cayman Islands licence and no other regulator, a group that includes several Japanese securities companies and a few standalone offshore brokers. The remaining twelve pair CIMA with other authorities, and BTG Pactual alone is recorded against eight regulators. A single-licence offshore broker warrants closer checking than a multi-regulated one.
No. CIMA is an offshore regulator, classed at tier 3 here, while the FCA and ASIC are tier-1 authorities with retail leverage caps and compensation schemes behind them. On this list the difference is visible: eight of the 22 brokers also hold at least one tier-1 licence, and ten hold only the Cayman registration. A CIMA licence is real oversight, but it is the lighter kind.
Bank of Scotland, which our records date to 1695, sits at the top of the list with a score of 70.3 and holds an FCA licence alongside its Cayman registration. Nomura Securities, dated 1925, is the next oldest. Operating age is read from each broker's recorded opening date, and twelve of the 22 firms here opened before 2010.
Twenty-two, as of today. The list is generated from the WIKILIX licence records rather than curated by hand, so a broker that gains or loses its Cayman Islands Monetary Authority licence appears or disappears without anyone editing the page. Ten of the 22 hold a CIMA licence and nothing else, while the other twelve carry it alongside other authorities.