A group of Forex and CFD brokers have launched a new industry body in the Bahamas, aiming to improve coordination between companies and strengthen engagement with regulators in the growing offshore market.
Singapore Summit: Meet the top APAC brokers you know (and those you don’t know yet!)
The Bahamas Forex and CFD Issuers Institute (BIFCI) is created by Pepperstone, Capital.com and Trade Nation. According to Tamás Szabó, CEO of Pepperstone Group, the initiative has been in development since April 2023 and is now operational.
Szabo said the idea arose from challenges shared across businesses licensed in the jurisdiction. These include regulatory expectations, capital requirements, and standards of market behavior.
“We have been developing this Bahamas Industry body www.bifci.com since April 2023 and now it is finally bearing fruit. We look forward to working with other industry participants, and if you are already in The Bahamas or are considering The Bahamas as a jurisdiction of choice, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
The latest development can be seen as a case of three internally regulated heavyweights trying to “corporate” the Bahamas. Pepperstone, Capital.com and Trade Nation already respond to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ASIC and CySEC, but now they are importing this governance mentality abroad by creating a formal trading body around their SCB-authorised entities.
There are strong industry bodies in major centres, for example, trade associations and business groups in the UK, EU and Australia that interact with the FCA, ESMA or ASIC. However, these are internal markets where the political economy has supported such structures for a long time.
IC, FxPro and Eightcap markets are missing
Although BIFCI has opened membership to all licensed brokers, the most interesting part is who is missing. Some of the largest SCB-licensed brokers in the Bahamas, including IC Markets, FxPro, Eightcap, ActivTrades and Infinox, are not among the founding trio. This raises questions about whether they declined to join or were never contacted.
“All these companies were invited and I spoke to them all in a great deal of detail. No one said no and many of them are keen and we have had a number of meetings together. I think it will take some time to expand the membership base officially. But unofficially, there are a lot of companies involved,” Szabo said exclusively. Finance poles.
Tamás Szabó, CEO of Pepperstone
“One thing I think is important to make clear is that we are not excluding anyone from joining, it is about building a better and stronger base in The Bahamas that benefits everyone, and we really put any competitive pressures aside.”
Continue reading: Pepperstone’s UK profits rose 81% to £18m in FY25
Overall, the Bahamas FX and CFD industry has shifted from a lean offshore hub to a more expensive but more regulated jurisdiction, with stricter rules and a growing pool of internationally regulated brokers. The Bahamas Securities Commission supervises Forex and CFD brokers under a regime that has been significantly tightened since 2020.
The Securities Industry (CFD) Rules 2020, which came into effect in May 2021, introduced impact
impact
In financial trading, leverage is a loan provided by a broker, which makes it easier for a trader to control a relatively large amount of money with a much lower initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to achieve a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies. Trading without any leverage would significantly reduce the potential rewards, so traders
In financial trading, leverage is a loan provided by a broker, which makes it easier for a trader to control a relatively large amount of money with a much lower initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to achieve a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies. Trading without any leverage would significantly reduce the potential rewards, so traders
Read this term Maximum limits of up to 200:1 on retail sales, bans on binary options, negative balance protection, and stricter marketing limits, including restrictions on cold calls and aggressive acquisition tactics.
Unusual for offshore jurisdictions
Unlike most offshore centres, where brokers typically operate independently under local rules, this move brings together three multi-jurisdictional brokers to create a formal mediator-led association, making the development notably exceptional among competing offshore centres.
This structure gives Bahamian licensed brokers a collective platform that does not already exist in similar jurisdictions such as Seychelles, Belize or the Bahamas. Vanuatuwhere regulatory bodies and broad business chambers typically dominate the conversation rather than product-specific industry bodies.
BIFCI is a small structural change with a big signal: Three multi-licensed brokers are trying to provide an offshore booking center similar to the onshore industry, suggesting that the “offshore” is being slowly institutionalized rather than quietly fenced off.
What needs to be watched now is whether the Bahamas Securities Commission chooses to formally recognize the institute or actively use it as an advisory counterparty, whether big absentees like IC Markets and FxPro decide to join, and whether other booking centers like Seychelles or Vanuatu feel compelled to emulate the trade body’s model.
A group of Forex and CFD brokers have launched a new industry body in the Bahamas, aiming to improve coordination between companies and strengthen engagement with regulators in the growing offshore market.
Singapore Summit: Meet the top APAC brokers you know (and those you don’t know yet!)
The Bahamas Forex and CFD Issuers Institute (BIFCI) is created by Pepperstone, Capital.com and Trade Nation. According to Tamás Szabó, CEO of Pepperstone Group, the initiative has been in development since April 2023 and is now operational.
Szabo said the idea arose from challenges shared across businesses licensed in the jurisdiction. These include regulatory expectations, capital requirements, and standards of market behavior.
“We have been developing this Bahamas Industry body www.bifci.com since April 2023 and now it is finally bearing fruit. We look forward to working with other industry participants, and if you are already in The Bahamas or are considering The Bahamas as a jurisdiction of choice, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
The latest development can be seen as a case of three internally regulated heavyweights trying to “corporate” the Bahamas. Pepperstone, Capital.com and Trade Nation already respond to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), ASIC and CySEC, but now they are importing this governance mentality abroad by creating a formal trading body around their SCB-authorised entities.
There are strong industry bodies in major centres, for example, trade associations and business groups in the UK, EU and Australia that interact with the FCA, ESMA or ASIC. However, these are internal markets where the political economy has supported such structures for a long time.
IC, FxPro and Eightcap markets are missing
Although BIFCI has opened membership to all licensed brokers, the most interesting part is who is missing. Some of the largest SCB-licensed brokers in the Bahamas, including IC Markets, FxPro, Eightcap, ActivTrades and Infinox, are not among the founding trio. This raises questions about whether they declined to join or were never contacted.
“All these companies were invited and I spoke to them all in a great deal of detail. No one said no and many of them are keen and we have had a number of meetings together. I think it will take some time to expand the membership base officially. But unofficially, there are a lot of companies involved,” Szabo said exclusively. Finance poles.
Tamás Szabó, CEO of Pepperstone
“One thing I think is important to make clear is that we are not excluding anyone from joining, it is about building a better and stronger base in The Bahamas that benefits everyone, and we really put any competitive pressures aside.”
Continue reading: Pepperstone’s UK profits rose 81% to £18m in FY25
Overall, the Bahamas FX and CFD industry has shifted from a lean offshore hub to a more expensive but more regulated jurisdiction, with stricter rules and a growing pool of internationally regulated brokers. The Bahamas Securities Commission supervises Forex and CFD brokers under a regime that has been significantly tightened since 2020.
The Securities Industry (CFD) Rules 2020, which came into effect in May 2021, introduced impact
impact
In financial trading, leverage is a loan provided by a broker, which makes it easier for a trader to control a relatively large amount of money with a much lower initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to achieve a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies. Trading without any leverage would significantly reduce the potential rewards, so traders
In financial trading, leverage is a loan provided by a broker, which makes it easier for a trader to control a relatively large amount of money with a much lower initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to achieve a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies. Trading without any leverage would significantly reduce the potential rewards, so traders
Read this term Maximum limits of up to 200:1 on retail sales, bans on binary options, negative balance protection, and stricter marketing limits, including restrictions on cold calls and aggressive acquisition tactics.
Unusual for offshore jurisdictions
Unlike most offshore centres, where brokers typically operate independently under local rules, this move brings together three multi-jurisdictional brokers to create a formal mediator-led association, making the development notably exceptional among competing offshore centres.
This structure gives Bahamian licensed brokers a collective platform that does not already exist in similar jurisdictions such as Seychelles, Belize or the Bahamas. Vanuatuwhere regulatory bodies and broad business chambers typically dominate the conversation rather than product-specific industry bodies.
BIFCI is a small structural change with a big signal: Three multi-licensed brokers are trying to provide an offshore booking center similar to the onshore industry, suggesting that the “offshore” is being slowly institutionalized rather than quietly fenced off.
What needs to be watched now is whether the Bahamas Securities Commission chooses to formally recognize the institute or actively use it as an advisory counterparty, whether big absentees like IC Markets and FxPro decide to join, and whether other booking centers like Seychelles or Vanuatu feel compelled to emulate the trade body’s model.
