FCA acts against 24 CFD firms over use of UK authorisation
The FCA says 21 CFD firms have closed since 2025 and three more are cancelling permissions. Traders dealing with linked overseas companies may not have UK protections.
Key points
- The FCA said that 21 CFD firms have closed since 2025 and three more are cancelling their permissions.
- The regulator says the firms used UK authorisation to make linked overseas companies look more trustworthy than they were.
- Two of the cases led to enforcement investigations, according to the FCA.
- Traders can check who they are dealing with using the FCA's Firm Checker.
The FCA says it has acted against CFD firms that used a UK authorisation to lend credibility to overseas sister companies. The regulator said that 21 Contracts for Differences (CFD) firms have closed since 2025, and three others are cancelling their permissions.
The FCA says its concern is that customers were left believing they were dealing directly with a UK-regulated business, with the protections that brings, when they were not.
What the FCA has done about the 24 CFD firms
According to the FCA, the firms did little UK business but used their authorised status as a badge to make linked overseas companies look more trustworthy than they really were. The regulator said this created a misleading impression that consumers benefited from UK protections.
The FCA said firms faced a range of actions, including restrictions on their trading, requirements for independent reviews of their business, and enforcement investigations in the two most serious cases. It did not name the firms or say how many customers they had.
The latest announcement sits in a run of CFD measures, which the FCA set out in its notes to editors.
| Year | FCA action on CFDs |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Restricted the sale of CFDs to retail customers |
| 2024 | Set out priorities for the CFD sector |
| 2025 | Warned investors at risk of losing UK protections through redirection offshore |
| 2026 | Announced 21 closures and three firms cancelling permissions |
Who is affected: retail traders and CFD trading regulations in the UK
The people most exposed are retail traders who opened accounts believing a UK authorisation covered their money. The FCA says that where an overseas firm has a name very similar to a UK firm, “UK regulatory protections are unlikely to apply”.
Dominic Holland, the FCA’s director of sell-side supervision, said: “Consumers need to know exactly who they’re dealing with and what protections they have.”
The FCA also reminds consumers that CFDs are complex and often involve high leverage, so large losses can build up quickly. As an illustration of our own, not an FCA figure, a trader who puts down £1,000 to control £10,000 of exposure at 10 to 1 leverage would lose the entire deposit if the underlying asset fell by 10%. Add the absence of UK protections and the risk grows.
Wider enforcement and what the FCA says
The CFD announcement came alongside other FCA actions. The regulator has begun High Court proceedings against Osborne Baldwin Limited, trading as Hunter Jones, alleging it sold loan notes without authorisation. The FCA said the claim is at an early stage, no trial date has been set and the court has not yet decided the case.
It also said a Sheriff had granted its application, on 27 August 2026, to make Arthur Temlett, trading as Abacus Insurance Consultants, bankrupt. On 28 September 2026, Southwark Crown Court ordered Raymondip Bedi to pay £603,404.28 and Patrick Mavanga £247,997.99 in a crypto fraud case.
Together those two orders total £851,402.27, about 55% of the £1,541,799 that at least 65 investors lost. Steve Smart, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “We’ll keep coming after fraudsters and holding them to account.”
What others say
The published material contains only the FCA’s own account. It offers no response from the CFD firms, from industry bodies or from consumer groups, so it is not possible to say from these sources how others view the approach.
The FCA’s stated aim is that consumers should know exactly who they are dealing with. The announcement does not name the firms or give customer numbers, so traders cannot tell from it whether they were affected. The FCA has not addressed that point.
What to do now
The FCA advises checking any firm with its Firm Checker before opening an account, to confirm it is UK authorised and not an overseas business with a similar name. Check which legal entity holds your account, as the protections depend on it.
Anyone who has invested through Hunter Jones and is concerned should use the contact address in the FCA’s statement. Customers of Abacus should be wary of anyone claiming to be Abacus, Mr Temlett or the trustee, Emma Porter of Aver Chartered Accountants, and asking for payment to recover money. The FCA says to end the call and ring back on a verified number.
Your questions answered
What is the FCA doing about CFD firms misusing UK authorisation?
The FCA’s action targets authorised firms that it says used their status to vouch for linked overseas companies. It says it has restricted trading, required independent reviews and opened two enforcement investigations.
How many CFD firms has the FCA shut down?
The FCA says 21 firms have closed since 2025 and three more are cancelling their permissions, making 24 in all. They were authorised firms, not unregulated ones.
What are CFDs and why are they regulated?
The FCA describes CFDs as complex products used to speculate on price movements across a wide range of assets. They carry a considerable risk of substantial losses. The FCA restricted their sale to retail customers in 2019.
How this article was produced
This story was researched, written and fact-checked by the Reported.News AI newsroom and edited by Amy Irwin, our AI Business desk editor. Every claim is checked against the sources listed below. Our Editors, Jack Shaw, James Smith, Matthew Price and Suzy Eaton, oversee everything we publish. Read how we report.
Verification status
Sources (4)
- Twenty-four CFD firms closing in crackdown on misuse of UK authorisation (FCA, 23 Sep 2026)
- FCA takes Hunter Jones to High Court over alleged unauthorised activity (FCA, 21 Sep 2026)
- FCA secures bankruptcy order against Arthur Temlett (FCA, 28 Sep 2026)
- FCA secures money back for victims of crypto fraud (FCA, 28 Sep 2026)
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Desk View · Opinion · Amy Irwin (AiBusiness)
The FCA is right to say consumers should know who they are dealing with, but an announcement of 21 closures and three cancellations that names no firm leaves those traders guessing. Twenty-one firms have already gone, yet nothing published tells a customer whether theirs was one. Closing the loophole matters less to an affected trader than being told plainly. If the regulator expects people to use its Firm Checker, it should also publish the names it has acted against.
Opinion from our AI business desk, based on the verified facts above.
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