Compensation is capped at 150,000 dollars per eligible consumer

This is the floor under a collapsed firm, and it sits at the end of a sequence: an AFCA determination in your favour, non-payment by the firm, then a claim. A loss on a product outside those four kinds of business, or one that never reached a determination, is outside the scheme. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/dealing-with-asic/compensation-scheme-of-last-resort

Complain to the firm first, then to AFCA at no cost

Going to AFCA before the firm has had the complaint costs you time, because the firm gets the first attempt. Accepting an AFCA decision makes it binding on the firm, so the choice to accept or decline is worth understanding before you make it. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/contact-us/reporting-misconduct-to-asic/disputes-with-financial-firms

One licence can cover a chain of authorised representatives

The brand you deal with is often not the licence holder. Knowing the licensee's name is what lets you check the licence, read its conditions, and later lodge a complaint against the entity that carries it. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/for-finance-professionals/afs-licensees/do-you-need-an-afs-licence

The register records each licensee's own website address

If the site asking for your deposit is not the website recorded against that licence, you are dealing with something other than the licensed firm. One entity can also hold several registrations, so confirm the result you are reading sits on the register you meant to search. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/online-services/search-asic-registers/professional-registers-search

Retail-client licensees must hold AFCA membership and compensation arrangements

These two things stand behind a retail account: a complaints process inside the firm and an independent one outside it, backed by compensation arrangements. Confirming AFCA membership before you deposit tells you the external route exists. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/for-finance-professionals/afs-licensees/afs-licensee-obligations

Banned and disqualified registers cover both firms and people

A licence check answers one question. These three registers answer the next: whether the firm, or the person behind it, has been banned from financial services or credit activities, and whether ASIC has published a notice about their conduct. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/online-services/search-asic-registers

A cancelled licence does not close the AFCA route

AFCA membership, not the licence, is what makes a complaint possible, so a failed broker is not automatically beyond reach. Check membership first, and lodge promptly rather than waiting for a liquidation to finish. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/asic-investigations-and-enforcement/enforcement-activities/shield-master-fund/

ASIC does not resolve individual disputes or recover money

Reporting a broker to ASIC and waiting for a refund is the common wrong turn. Reports feed supervision, while the money route runs through the firm, then AFCA, then the compensation scheme. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/contact-us/reporting-misconduct-to-asic

Onshore

ASICAustralia Securities & Investment Commission

Q: Retail CFD leverage is capped at 30:1 on major currency pairs

Retail leverage above these caps falls outside what the order permits, so an offer of 100:1 on a major pair tells you the account is not being provided on these terms. Negative balance protection means a retail CFD account cannot leave you owing more than you put in. Source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2020-releases/20-254mr-asic-product-intervention-order-strengthens-cfd-protections

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) licenses and monitors financial services firms in Australia, and the Australian financial services (AFS) licence is the authorisation a broker needs before it deals with you. Any licence can be confirmed on ASIC's professional registers by name, licence number, ACN or ABN, and the free entry shows the licence status, any conditions and the licensee's own website address. Complaints go to the firm first and then to AFCA, whose service is free for consumers, and the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort pays up to $150,000 where an AFCA determination goes unpaid in four defined kinds of business. Retail CFD leverage is capped at 30:1 on major currency pairs, with standardised margin close-outs and negative balance protection.

About Australia Securities & Investment Commission

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent Australian government agency responsible for overseeing the country's corporate sector, financial services, markets, and consumer credit activities.

ASIC was established on 1 July 1998 following the recommendations of the Wallis Inquiry and was intended to function as Australia's central corporate regulator. Over the years, ASIC, as an institution, and its powers have evolved through various legislative structures, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act) and the Corporations Act.

Core Goals and Purpose

Official Description

Contact Information

Main Site

https://www.asic.gov.au/

Live chat

feedback@asic.gov.au

Phone

61 351773988

Website

https://www.afca.org.au/

Instruments and Trading Limits

Regulated financial instruments

Forex, Stocks, Fund, Options, Derivatives, Securities

About and how to use Australia Securities & Investment Commission

How to verify a licence

Open the professional registers search at https://www.asic.gov.au/online-services/search-asic-registers/professional-registers-search and search by the AFS licence number the firm quotes, or by its company name, ACN or ABN. The registers cover AFS licensees, AFS authorised representatives, credit licensees, credit representatives, registered managed investment schemes, auditors, liquidators and approved SMSF auditors, so filter by the register you want and check the result sits on that register: one entity can hold more than one registration. Read three things in the free entry: the registration or licence status, any conditions on the licence, and the AFS licensee website addresses, including the principal website address, which you can compare with the site asking for your money. Register changes are processed once a day and a timestamp shows when they were last updated. Financial advisers are listed separately on the financial advisers register, and ASIC also publishes banned and disqualified registers for organisations and for people, plus a public warning notices register, all reachable from https://www.asic.gov.au/online-services/search-asic-registers.

How to complain

Information Sheet 174 sets the order. First make the complaint directly to the financial firm through its internal dispute resolution process, using the contact route in its website, Financial Services Guide or Product Disclosure Statement. If the firm has not resolved it, take the complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which can be reached on 1800 931 678 or online, and whose service is free for consumers. The firm must be an AFCA member, and membership can outlast the licence: ASIC's enforcement pages record firms whose AFS licence was cancelled that remain AFCA members, with previous complaint deadlines no longer applying for now. For most complaints an AFCA decision binds the firm once you accept it, and if you do not accept it you keep your legal rights to go to court. ASIC itself receives reports and uses them to detect systemic issues, and states that it does not intervene in disputes, resolve complaints, give legal advice or act to get your money back, and has no role in AFCA's decision making. If an AFCA determination in your favour goes unpaid because the firm is insolvent, the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is the next step.

Jurisdiction and scope

ASIC regulates financial services and consumer credit, and authorised financial markets, operating in Australia, and supervises trading on Australia's domestic licensed equity, derivatives and futures markets. An AFS licence authorises the licensee and its representatives to provide financial services to clients, covering financial product advice, dealing, making a market, operating registered managed investment schemes, custodial or depository services, trustee company services, crowd funding, superannuation trustee services, claims handling and corporate collective investment vehicles. Financial products in scope include shares, bonds, superannuation, interests in managed investment schemes, life insurance, general insurance, derivatives and margin lending facilities. Licence categories are split by client type and product complexity: the fee schedule prices separate authorisations for retail clients and for wholesale clients, and for low complexity and high complexity products. A firm may also be exempt from holding a licence, hold a limited AFS licence, or act as an authorised representative of a licensee, so the register entry is what tells you which entity carries the authorisation.

What is protected

Three layers apply. Client money for retail OTC derivatives is held on trust: under section 981B a client money account is generally operated as a trust account and the funds must be held on trust for the persons entitled to them, retail client money relating to OTC derivatives may no longer be used for the licensee's own purposes, and licensees holding reportable client money must reconcile it daily and monthly. Second, a licensee whose clients include retail clients must have dispute resolution and compensation arrangements and must be an AFCA member, and ASIC states that a firm that is not an AFCA member is in breach of its licence obligations. Third, the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort pays up to $150,000 to a consumer holding an unpaid AFCA determination, and only where that determination relates to personal financial advice, credit intermediation, securities dealing or credit provision, with other eligibility criteria applying. Retail CFD accounts also carry negative balance protection, which limits a retail client's CFD losses to the funds in their CFD trading account.

Using this regulator

Ask for the AFS licence number and search it yourself rather than trusting a number printed in a footer. Check the licensee name against the trading name in front of you, because that firm may be an authorised representative and any later complaint belongs with the licensee. Compare the website address on the register entry with the site you are using, and read the conditions recorded on the licence, since they set what the firm may actually do. If you trade CFDs, treat retail leverage above 30:1 on a major currency pair as outside what the product intervention order permits. Keep the paperwork that identifies the licensee, the platform and the trustee, because an AFCA complaint asks for exactly that. Lodge with the firm first, then AFCA, and do it promptly even where a licence has been cancelled.

Good to know

This dossier covers licensing and its cost, the public registers, complaints and AFCA, the compensation scheme, client money and the retail CFD conditions.

Key insights and tips

Search a firm on ASIC's professional registers by licence number

Key

A licence number on a broker website means nothing until it matches a live entry. Searching the number and then reading the status and the conditions tells you whether that firm may still provide the service it is offering you.

ASIC's professional registers search covers AFS licensees, AFS authorised representatives, credit licensees, credit representatives and registered managed investment schemes, and accepts an individual or company name, a registration or licence number, an ACN or an ABN. The free entry includes the registration or licence status and any conditions on the licence.

You can search the professional registers to find out about a person or an organisation registered or licensed with ASIC to provide a service.

Quoted in Professional registers searchRead the source

You can search by individual or company name, registration or licence number, ACN or ABN.

Quoted in Professional registers searchRead the source

Official documents examined

Public registerSearch Business Names Register
Fetched Sep 7, 2026View source
Official documentSearch Company and Other Registers
Fetched Sep 7, 2026View source
Public registerAustralian Business Registration Service
Fetched Sep 7, 2026View source
Official documentSign up
Fetched Sep 7, 2026View source

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About this information

The details on this page about Australia Securities & Investment Commission were compiled from the regulator’s own official documents, its website and other public sources, and are presented as neutral, factual guidance.

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ASICAustralia Securities & Investment Commission

About Australia Securities & Investment Commission