Financial regulator
A financial regulator is the public authority that licenses, supervises and sanctions market firms, such as the FCA in the UK or ASIC in Australia.
The regulator grants licences to brokers, sets client protection rules and can withdraw a licence or impose fines. In the UK this is the FCA; in Australia, ASIC; in the US, the CFTC and the NFA for forex and futures; in Germany, BaFin; in Cyprus, CySEC; in France, the AMF and the ACPR.
In the European Union, a broker licensed in one country can offer its services in the others through the EU passport, under ESMA rules.
Before opening an account, check the licence number on the regulator's own website, not the broker's. An offshore licence does not give the same protection as a licence from a major regulator.