Investor compensation is capped at 100,000 euros per investor

It sets the ceiling on what a client can recover if the firm fails, and it fixes what triggers a payout: insolvency and an inability to return assets, not a losing position. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/inversor/glosario?id=0&letra=F&idlng=1&lang=en

One year to take a complaint to the CNMV Complaints Service

Both clocks run against the client. Miss the year and the escalation route closes, however strong the underlying case. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/Inversor/Reclamaciones.aspx

The Complaints Service report is not binding and awards no money

A favourable report is useful evidence and the firm must tell the supervisor what it did about it, but getting money back still runs through the firm or the courts. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/Inversor/Reclamaciones.aspx

Authorisation covers named services, not investment services generally

A firm can be genuinely registered and still be outside its permissions for the service it is selling you, so the check is firm plus service, not firm alone. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/inversor/Entidades-Autorizadas.aspx

EEA firms listed in Spain are supervised by their home authority

Finding a broker in a CNMV list does not always mean the CNMV authorised it. A passported EEA firm answers to its home regulator, which is where authorisation questions and much of the conduct supervision sit. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/consultas/listadoentidad.aspx?id=1&tipoent=4

Ninety calendar days is the limit for resolving a complaint

It tells a client roughly when to expect an answer, and what the file should look like: the firm's pleadings come back to you for comment before anything is decided. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/Inversor/Reclamaciones.aspx

The firm's own complaint deadline sits in its client defence rules

The first deadline a client meets is set by the firm, not by the CNMV, and it is written in a document most clients never open. Find it before you need it. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/Inversor/Reclamaciones.aspx

Registration confirms the filing, not the accuracy of its content

It marks the line between a firm being registered and a firm's claims being vouched for. The register proves status and permissions, not the truth of everything a firm files. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/portal/quees/Funciones-CNMV.aspx

Disciplinary penalties stay on the public register for five years

It is a free way to see whether a firm has a recent disciplinary record, and it tells you how far back that record reaches before entries drop off. Source: https://www.cnmv.es/Portal/Consultas/RegistroSanciones/IniRegSanciones.aspx

Onshore

CNMVComisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores

The Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) supervises Spain's securities markets and the firms that provide investment services in them. Its official registers are public and free, and a firm's entry sets out the exact services, instruments and client types it is authorised for. Clients of a Spanish investment firm are covered by the Fondo de Garantía de Inversiones up to 100,000 euros where the firm is declared insolvent and cannot return their assets. A complaint goes to the firm's own customer care service first, and then to the CNMV Complaints Service within one year.

About Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores

The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) is the authority responsible for overseeing and supervising Spain's securities markets and related activities undertaken by all market participants. The CNMV was established under the Securities Market Law 24/1988, which introduced a comprehensive reform affecting this subsection of the Spanish financial system.

Since then, the CNMV's regulatory framework has been delivered on a dynamic basis to reflect changes in the financial markets and introduce new protections to investors.

The CNMV's primary purpose is to ensure the transparency of Spain's securities markets, maintain fair pricing, and protect the rights and interests of investors.

About and how to use Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores

How to verify a licence

Start at the CNMV search of authorised entities (https://www.cnmv.es/portal/Consultas/BusquedaPorEntidad.aspx?tipoBusqueda=ESI) and type any word or phrase from the firm's registered name. A Spanish investment firm's record opens with its Nº Registro Oficial and the date it was entered on the register, followed by its address, share capital and the guarantee fund it belongs to. Open the Programa de actividades tab to see the four investment services, the ancillary services, the instrument classes and the client categories (retail, professional, eligible counterparties) the firm is actually authorised for, so a service the firm offers but the register does not list is worth asking about. Then run the same name through the search engine for unauthorised entities at https://www.cnmv.es/Portal/BusquedaAdvertencias.aspx. If the firm is not in the official register, the CNMV asks investors to contact it before dealing with that firm.

How to complain

Write to the firm's own customer care service or customer ombudsman first, keeping a dated, stamped copy. That service has two months to issue a reasoned statement. If a month passes with no reply, or the reply does not satisfy you, you then have one year to file with the CNMV Complaints Service, by the electronic form in the Virtual Office or the PDF form sent to C/ Edison, 4, 28006 Madrid or C/ Bolivia 56, 4ª Planta, 08018 Barcelona. The Complaints Service will admit a claim only where no more than five years have passed since the events complained of. Once admitted, the firm has twenty-one calendar days to file pleadings, and the maximum period for resolving a complaint is ninety calendar days. There is an investor assistance line on 900 535 015, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 19:00.

Jurisdiction and scope

The CNMV supervises Spanish securities markets, issuers offering securities to the public, Spanish investment firms, crowdfunding platforms, collective investment scheme and venture capital managers, and the investment services provided by credit institutions. Spain's official secondary markets are the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges, the government bond market, the MEFF futures and options market and the AIAF fixed income market. Two boundaries matter to a trader. Where a credit institution provides investment services, risk controls, internal audit, safeguarding of client cash, continuity and outsourcing fall to the Bank of Spain rather than the CNMV. And European Economic Area firms operating in Spain under the freedom to provide services appear in CNMV lists on information supplied by their home authority, which remains responsible for it.

What is protected

Clients of a Spanish investment services company are covered by the Fondo de Garantía de Inversiones, set up under Royal Decree 948/2001, up to 100,000 euros. The cover is tied to insolvency: it applies where the investment firm is declared insolvent and cannot return the securities or financial instruments it held in deposit for the provision of investment services, so it is not cover for money lost on the investment itself. Where the investment service was provided by a credit institution, cover falls instead to the deposit guarantee funds. The fund a given firm belongs to is shown on its register record. Separately, the CNMV Complaints Service report is for information only, does not bind either party, cannot be appealed, and puts no figure on any loss, because only the courts can award money.

Using this regulator

Check the register before the first deposit and check it again against the specific service you are being sold, since a firm can be authorised for order reception and still not for portfolio management or advice. Note the official register number and the registration date, and keep them. Look up the firm's customer care department in the register too, because that is where a complaint has to start and because its Customer Defence Regulation is where the firm's own filing deadline is written. Diarise the one year window to escalate to the CNMV Complaints Service. Read the guarantee fund line on the register record so you know in advance whether a shortfall would fall to the Fondo de Garantía de Inversiones or to a deposit guarantee fund. If the firm is European Economic Area based and providing services into Spain, expect its conduct supervision to sit with its home authority.

Good to know

This dossier covers the CNMV's licensing scope, its public registers, the complaints procedure and the investor compensation fund.

Key insights and tips

Confirm a firm in the CNMV search of authorised entities

Key

It takes about a minute and settles the one question that matters before a deposit: whether the firm is on Spain's official register at all, and for the service it is actually offering you.

The CNMV points investors to a single search engine to check whether a firm is authorised for a specific investment service, and it asks investors to contact the CNMV first if the firm does not appear in the official register.

To verify whether or not an entity is authorised to provide a specific investment service, please use this search engine.

Quoted in Warnings (unauthorised firms and other entities)Read the source

Si no encuentra en el Registro Oficial la entidad que busca, es aconsejable que realice una consulta a la CNMV antes de operar con ella.

Quoted in Who are the authorised bodies?Read the source

Search official registers for information filed about a company

Official documents examined

Official documentPolítica de comunicación pública de la CNMV
Version Marzo de 2023Fetched Sep 6, 2026View source
RulebookNew public consultation on draft Circular to simplify regulations for fund managers and investment firms
Version 13 July 2026Fetched Sep 6, 2026View source
GuidanceCNMV 2030: A supervisor for a new era
Version 2025Fetched Sep 6, 2026View source
Official documentEnvironmental sustainability plan

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About this information

The details on this page about Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores were compiled from the regulator’s own official documents, its website and other public sources, and are presented as neutral, factual guidance.

If you believe something here is inaccurate, or you spot a critical problem, please let us know via Contact us.

CNMVComisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores

About Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores