SCB — Securities Commission of the Bahamas

Frequently asked

Is an SCB licence "real" regulation?

SCB does conduct AML supervision and basic capital-adequacy oversight, so it is real regulation in the technical sense. But there is no statutory compensation scheme, no leverage caps, no mandatory negative balance protection, and no binding-award ombudsman. Treat SCB as legal cover for the broker's commercial activity, not a meaningful consumer-protection regime.

Why do brokers like FxPro Global Markets and Pepperstone Limited use SCB?

SCB licensing lets them onboard clients excluded from EU/UK/AU jurisdictions by retail leverage caps — most clients access leverage above 1:200 there. The same broker group typically operates a tier-1 entity (FCA, ASIC) for European/Australian retail and the SCB entity for the rest of the world.

How risky is funding an SCB-licensed broker?

Risk varies sharply by group. Major broker groups with FCA/ASIC entities and audited financial statements (FxPro, Pepperstone, IC Markets via Bahamas) generally honour withdrawals reliably. Pure-offshore brokers without sister tier-1 entities have a worse track record and significantly higher complaints volume on industry forums.

Can I sue an SCB-licensed broker if there's a dispute?

Disputes go through Bahamian courts under Bahamian law. Cross-border enforcement is slow, expensive and frequently impractical for retail-sized claims. Some major broker groups offer voluntary internal arbitration that produces faster outcomes than litigation.

Does Bahamian banking secrecy affect transparency?

The Bahamas has signed onto the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and reports tax-residency information to most major countries since 2018. Banking-side secrecy is no longer the protection it was pre-2010. The relevant transparency gap today is the SCB's lighter-touch supervision compared to tier-1 regulators, not bank secrecy.