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Vantage regulation: what happens if the firm fails

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it. Here is who licenses Vantage and what the protections are.

Facts last checked . Read the full Vantage review.

Regulation and safety

Regulated by
ASIC (AFSL 428901); FCA (590299); FSCA (51268); Cayman Islands CIMA (1383491); Vanuatu VFSC (700271)
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
ASIC Professional Registers / FCA Financial Services Register
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Regulated banking institutions; entity-dependent
Negative balance protection
Yes, entity/client-classification dependent
Compensation scheme
FSCS protection for eligible UK clients; none for many international entities
Audited by
Independent external/statutory auditors
Not available to
United States and other jurisdictions where its services are prohibited

Check the licence yourself: ASIC Connect, the FCA Register, the FSCA search of financial services providers.

What this means

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.

Vantage holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC and FCA. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (CIMA and VFSC). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Regulated banking institutions; entity-dependent. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by FSCS protection for eligible UK clients; none for many international entities, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Questions about Vantage regulation

Is client money segregated at Vantage?

Yes. Vantage holds client money separately from its own funds, at Regulated banking institutions; entity-dependent.

Does Vantage offer negative balance protection?

Yes. Vantage offers negative balance protection, so a losing position cannot leave you owing the broker more than your account held.

Is there a compensation scheme at Vantage?

Vantage's compensation scheme is recorded as: FSCS protection for eligible UK clients; none for many international entities. A scheme covers the broker failing, not losses on your trades.

Regulation at brokers under the same regulator

More about Vantage