An offshore forex license is a permission to broker or deal in currency and CFDs from a regulator outside the main onshore markets. Eight jurisdictions issue one; six more turn up in offers under the same name and issue none. Below, all 14 side by side: regulator, capital and fees, decision clock, residents and the FATF and EU lists.
Updated · Reviewed by the Prifinance team
A bank or a payment provider looks at two public sources before your licence: the regulator's register, to see that your company is on it, and the FATF and EU lists, to see where the country stands.
Each takes minutes on the regulator's own site.
The eight regimes that license dealing or broking, in each regulator's own figures. Belize and the Bahamas call the permission a registration, but it carries capital rules, resident officers and approval, so it sits here.
| Regime | Capital and official fees | Decision time and substance |
|---|---|---|
| Seychelles · FSA · securities dealer (Securities Act 2007)More details → | US$100,000 in a bank at all times; US$3,000 to apply, US$6,000 a year; US$500 and US$750 a year per representative | 30 working days from a complete file. A physical office; an auditor within 30 days; accounts within 4 months; FSA approval of any share issue or transfer |
| Mauritius · FSC · investment dealer SEC-2.1B, or SEC-2.1C for derivatives (Securities Act 2005, s. 29)More details → | SEC-2.1B: MUR 1,000,000 of capital; US$1,000 and US$3,400 a year for a global business company plus US$600 and US$2,600 for the GBL, MUR 7,500 and MUR 75,000 for a domestic one. SEC-2.1C: US$1,000 and US$3,000, or MUR 30,000 and MUR 90,000 | Grant within 10 working days of the FSC finding the file complete (Financial Services Act, s. 17B); the completeness check itself has no deadline. SEC-2.1B criteria: two or more on the dealer team, an MLRO and deputy independent of the board, an FSC-approved auditor, substance under Circular CL1-121018 |
| Vanuatu · VFSC · principal's licence, classes A to D (Cap 70)More details → | VT 5,000,000 deposit, interest to the State; VT 50,000 and VT 100,000 per class; VT 500,000 a year; cover of VT 5,000,000 a claim | No period in the Act. Managers and directors must be individuals, with 5 years of experience dealing in securities or otherwise shown to be competent; a licensed manager; audited accounts 3 months after the anniversary date |
| Labuan · Labuan FSA · money broking (LFSSA 2010, guidelines of 9 September 2024)More details → | RM1,000,000 paid up (RM1,500,000 with digital assets), and Labuan FSA expects a further 20% in reserve; US$500 to apply, US$1,500 for fast track; US$5,000 a year | 30 working days, 15 on fast track. Audited accounts within six months; client monies in separate accounts; approval of any change of 10% or more in shareholding |
| Belize · FSC · registration to trade in securities (Securities Industry Act 2021, s. 35)More details → | BZ$1,000,000 as principal, BZ$240,000 as agent, deposited in Belize; BZ$3,000, BZ$30,000 and BZ$30,000 a year; BZ$5,000 per extra category | The FSC lists steps without a timeframe: two invoices, then the certificate. Books in Belize unless the FSC agrees otherwise; client cash in a trust account; accounts within 120 days |
| British Virgin Islands · FSC · investment business, category 1 A or B (Securities and Investment Business Act, SIBA)More details → | Capital set case by case under the Regulatory Code; per sub-category, US$2,200 to apply, US$3,300 on grant and US$3,300 each year | No period in SIBA. A resident director if the Commission asks; customer money in a customer account; accounts within 6 months; approval of stakes of 10% or more |
| Cayman Islands · CIMA · securities investment business licence, broker dealer (Securities Investment Business Act)More details → | The greater of $100,000 and a quarter of annual expenditure; CI$1,000, CI$10,000 and CI$10,000 a year by 15 January; the licence lapses if the fee is still unpaid three full months later | 6 to 8 weeks from a complete file (CIMA policy, May 2018). A company applicant; functions in the Islands if CIMA requires; accounts within 6 months |
| Bahamas · SCB · registered CFD firm (Securities Industry Act 2024, CFD Rules 2020)More details → | Capital by formula, no fixed sum; $5,000 to apply, not refundable, $20,000 on registration, $45,000 a year, pro-rated in the first year; a quarterly activity fee of $45,000, reduced when gross trading revenue is below $10 million | No period in the CFD Rules. CEO, compliance officer and CFD supervisory officer registered; retail margin segregated; retail losses limited to the account |
Every fee here goes to the regulator. Formation, office, audit and our own fee, fixed in writing after a free assessment, come on top.
Country by country: regulator, licence type, capital, timelines and tax.
Dealing model, client countries, capital and people by regulator, and six steps from plan to launch.
Our licensed forex companies in Mauritius, Vanuatu and Cyprus, the regulator's approval of a new owner country by country and how to check an offer.
Application, grant and yearly fees and the minimum capital, regulator by regulator, from the rules in force.
The EU passport, IFR / IFD capital classes, authorisation deadlines and the fees of the main EU regulators, plus the UK and Switzerland.
What each authority publishes on forex business, and what you can get there instead.
| Jurisdiction | What the official source says | What exists instead |
|---|---|---|
| St Vincent and the Grenadines (FSA)More details → | Notice of 2 February 2026: the FSA issues no licences for forex trading or brokerage and does not regulate business companies or LLCs engaged in forex | A business company or LLC; for securities business, the regional ECSRC licence (see Antigua and Barbuda) |
| Saint Lucia (FSRA)More details → | An FSRA warning notice: forex business is not licensed in Saint Lucia | A company registration; the regional ECSRC securities licence is open to Saint Lucia firms too |
| Dominica (FSU)More details → | The FSU supervises all financial institutions except commercial banks and securities business; entities missing from its site are not authorised to do business in Dominica | A company registration; securities business falls to the regional ECSRC, outside the FSU |
| St Kitts and Nevis (FSRC)More details → | Neither branch of the FSRC lists forex, securities dealing or CFDs among its regulated entities | A company registration, not a licence; St Kitts and Nevis firms can apply to the regional ECSRC |
| Antigua and Barbuda (ECSRC)More details → | Securities business is licensed regionally by the ECSRC; its register shows 16 broker-dealers, seven of them banks, none listed as a forex or CFD dealer | The regional ECSRC securities licence, open to firms from any ECCU member territory: EC$1.0 million of capital, EC$1,000, EC$3,000 and EC$2,000 a year, two licensed individuals |
| Comoros, Anjouan and Mohéli (Banque Centrale des Comores)More details → | Communiqué of 8 December 2025: forex is not authorised on Comorian territory and no licence for it has been issued; the Anjouan, Mwali and Grande Comore bodies that claim to issue licences are not recognised | Nothing for a forex business; the BCC lists the 14 institutions it has licensed |
These conditions come from the eight regimes' own laws and guidelines; each one is a salary, a lease or a deadline.
The laws, fee rules, regulator pages, public registers and FATF and EU lists behind every figure on this page.
Rules, fees and list entries in force on 4 November 2026: the FATF statements of 30 October 2026, the EU high-risk list as consolidated on 29 January 2026 and the EU tax list of 9 October 2026. If a regulator changes a figure, its own text linked here prevails.
Where the clients live, what you offer them and which banks you need. The answers strike out the six places with no licence and cut the eight to two or three, with the lists checked on day one.
Directors, officers and dealers the regulator will approve by name, and the residents each regime insists on.
The lease, the bank account holding the capital, Vanuatu's deposit with the Commissioner, the insurer's quote. These come before the business plan.
Business plan, AML manual, client money arrangements and a fit and proper form for every name. The application fee is US$3,000 in Seychelles and CI$1,000 in the Cayman Islands; in Belize the FSC invoices its BZ$3,000 once it has the complete application.
We answer the regulator's questions until the file is complete, which is when a published clock starts. Where the regime charges a fee on grant, the licence issues once it is paid.
The company appears on the register, fees and the first audit go into the calendar, and bank and PSP applications go out with the register entry attached.
The forex market is full of intermediaries selling flags by the unit. Including flags that are not licences at all. We are a legal and advisory firm: we tell you what a route actually buys, build the file the supervisor reads, and stay on it after the licence is issued.
60+ specialists work on applications directly. Lawyers, compliance and finance people, not an outsourcing chain of resellers.
Before you pay anyone, you get a written view of what the licence does, where its limits run, and whether it is a licence at all. We have written that opinion about offers already sitting on a client's desk.
The quote you approve is the price you pay. Government, regulator, audit and capital costs are stated separately and upfront.
Business plans, capital models, client-money and conduct architecture and AML/CFT packs drafted to the standards CySEC, the FCA, ASIC and the FSA actually check.
Fee and reporting calendars, renewals, representative filings, audits, and the migration path when a project outgrows the licence it started on.
15 years in FinTech and payments. Maps your dealing model to the right licence class and leads the file to the regulator's decision, including banking and payment rails.
Builds the application itself: the local company, AML/KYC policy pack, capital structure and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
First point of contact for international founders. Runs the whole setup remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live, licensed broker.
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A regulator's permission to broker or deal in currency and CFDs, issued outside the main onshore markets. Each law names it differently: a securities dealer licence in Seychelles, a principal's licence in Vanuatu, an investment dealer licence in Mauritius, money broking in Labuan, an investment business licence in the BVI, a securities investment business licence in the Cayman Islands, a registration in Belize and the Bahamas. All come with capital rules, approved people, audits and an entry on a public register.
By the fee to apply: a domestic company in Mauritius at MUR 7,500 for SEC-2.1B or MUR 30,000 for SEC-2.1C, Vanuatu at VT 50,000 a class and Labuan at US$500. The bigger numbers come after: in Mauritius MUR 75,000 a year for SEC-2.1B or MUR 90,000 for SEC-2.1C, plus MUR 1,000,000 of capital under SEC-2.1B; in Vanuatu VT 500,000 a year and a VT 5,000,000 deposit; in Labuan US$5,000 a year and RM1,000,000 paid up. Scope matters more. Labuan licenses intermediation only, so a CFD market maker needs a dealer licence such as the one in Seychelles: US$3,000, then US$6,000 a year and US$100,000 of capital.
Seven license dealing: Seychelles, Mauritius, Vanuatu, Belize, the BVI, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas. Labuan licenses broking only. Each of the eight has a statute, a regulator that vets people and a public register. Six places issue no forex licence. The SVG FSA and the Saint Lucia FSRA say so in notices. The national regulators of Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis list no forex or securities dealers; securities dealers across the Eastern Caribbean are licensed by the regional ECSRC. For Antigua and Barbuda the only licence we found is that ECSRC securities licence, which no listed firm holds for forex or CFDs. The central bank of the Comoros says forex is not authorised on its territory and does not recognise the Anjouan and Mwali bodies.
Three lines. Capital, which stays in the company: US$100,000 in Seychelles, MUR 1,000,000 under SEC-2.1B in Mauritius, RM1,000,000 in Labuan, BZ$1,000,000 for a principal in Belize, or a VT 5,000,000 deposit in Vanuatu. Official fees: US$500 to apply in Labuan, US$3,000 in Seychelles, $5,000 in the Bahamas; each year US$3,300 in the BVI, CI$10,000 in the Cayman Islands, $45,000 plus activity fees in the Bahamas. Then office, resident staff, audit and our fee, fixed in writing after a free assessment.
Four of the eight set a clock. In Mauritius the law gives the FSC 10 working days to grant once it finds the file complete, though the completeness check has no deadline. Seychelles works to 30 working days from a completed application, Labuan to 30 working days or 15 on fast track, CIMA to six to eight weeks once every document is in. The laws and rules of Vanuatu, Belize, the BVI and the Bahamas set none. The months go into the file itself: residents hired, capital banked, an office leased.
A company and, in most regimes, an office in the jurisdiction; capital paid in and kept, such as US$100,000 in Seychelles; directors and officers the regulator approves by name, some of them resident; audits and yearly fees on fixed dates. Vanuatu also writes insurance into its Act at VT 5,000,000 per claim.
No. A licence is a regulator's permission, so paper with no regulator behind it is a company certificate. The authorities of the places named on such paper say so themselves: the SVG FSA issues no forex licences, the Saint Lucia FSRA licenses no forex business, and the central bank of the Comoros says forex is not authorised on its territory and no licence for it has been issued. A company holding only that paper has no licence to show a bank or its clients' regulator.
Not by the Comoros. The Banque Centrale des Comores, which calls itself the sole competent licensing authority, stated on 8 December 2025 that forex is not authorised on Comorian territory and that no licence for it has been issued. It named the Anjouan Offshore Finance Authority, the Mwali International Services Authority and the International Regulatory Authority of Grande Comore as unrecognised bodies with no power to license, and called business under an approval it did not issue fraudulent.
Banks and payment providers start from two public facts: the register entry, which all eight regimes publish online, and the country's list status. On 30 October 2026 the FATF kept the Virgin Islands (UK) under increased monitoring, and the EU high-risk list carries the BVI and Vanuatu. In practice a listed country means more questions on owners and funds, and some providers decline. We approach banks and PSPs with both facts documented.
The one whose scope fits the business. A dealer that takes the other side of client trades needs a dealer licence: Seychelles, Vanuatu with classes A, B and C, Mauritius, or Belize as principal. Institutional FX broking with no dealing desk fits Labuan. The Cayman Islands and the Bahamas want a physical presence, and the Bahamas adds quarterly activity fees to its $45,000 a year. The BVI charges US$3,300 a year with capital set case by case, and it is the only one of the eight on the FATF grey list. We compare the two or three that fit after a free assessment.
Tell us what you will offer, where your clients live and which banks or payment providers you need. Our legal team replies in writing with the two or three regimes that fit, the official figures, the list status and our fixed fee.
