ASIC

A registered company is not the same thing as an AFS licensee

ASIC keeps company records and financial-services registers. Finding a company name or an Australian business number establishes a different fact from finding a current licence for the proposed financial service.

Sources: ASIC’s ACN and ABN explanation, AFS licence guidance and Professional Registers guidance.

ASIC states that an AFS licence does not endorse the company, advice or product, or guarantee service quality. Licensing is a point-in-time assessment; losses remain possible.

Open the licence detail, not just a search result

1. Start with the company and licence number on the account agreement. Open ASIC Professional Registers Search from the official ASIC site.
2. Search the number or legal name. Use the register filter to distinguish an AFS licensee from a credit licensee, representative or another registration.
3. Open the company detail. Read status and commencement date, then expand “Licence/registration conditions”. Select the relevant conditions date and compare the service, product and client category.
4. Inspect addresses, website information, representatives and external dispute resolution separately. Save the record or use “Export to PDF” with your check date.

Example checked: OANDA Australia Pty Ltd, 412981

The actual ASIC detail displays Current, commenced 26 March 2012, ACN 152 088 349 and ABN 26 152 088 349. Its 5 April 2024 conditions authorise general advice, dealing through issuing/acquiring/varying/disposing, and market-making in derivatives and foreign exchange contracts, for retail and wholesale clients.

The external-dispute-resolution section lists AFCA membership number 28370, commenced 31 July 2018. This is the ASIC record’s EDR entry; an individual complaint still needs AFCA’s membership and jurisdiction checks.

The same detail says No website supplied and lists a principal/service address at Level 1, 60 Martin Place, Sydney. The provider’s Australian legal hub and February 2026 PDS instead give Level 26, 1 Bligh Street. Do not silently treat a missing registered website as verification of a domain. Confirm the current contact route and destination for documents through the company and ASIC.

The provider’s January 2025 FSG still gives the Martin Place address. Its PDS, version 16 dated 1 February 2026, gives Bligh Street. Read the dated agreement and disclosures together; the difference does not by itself establish impersonation or misconduct.

A representative needs its own appointment check

The ASIC representative guidance distinguishes authorised representatives from financial advisers. An authorised representative appears in the Professional Registers; advisers providing personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products also have separate Financial Advisers Register and registration requirements.

Search the representative’s exact name or number and check the licensee and appointment dates. A historical appointment must not be presented as current. Ask the licensee to confirm the service the representative is authorised to provide, then reconcile that with the actual agreement and payment instructions.

Use the Financial Advisers Register for the personal-advice question. Do not treat a broker’s general-advice service as evidence that a salesperson has assessed your individual objectives, finances or needs.

Keep the retail CFD rules attached to a retail CFD account

ASIC’s CFD intervention-order extension runs to 23 May 2027. The order applies to issue and distribution of CFDs to retail clients, with leverage limits from 30:1 to 2:1 by asset class, standardised margin close-out, negative balance protection and restrictions on certain inducements.

That range is not permission to offer 30:1 on every asset. Confirm the instrument, retail classification and contracting entity. These measures do not prevent losses within an account or establish that a particular provider complies.

ASIC’s implementation notice specifically flags misclassification of retail clients as wholesale clients because important protections can be lost. If offered a “professional” or wholesale switch, ask which protections and complaint access change before consenting. A separately incorporated overseas company does not inherit the Australian retail account’s rules merely by sharing a brand.

For the example above, the Australian legal hub provides the FSG, PDS, account terms and Target Market Determination. Read those documents for the issuer, risks, costs, eligibility and intended market; a Target Market Determination is not a personal suitability assessment.

Use IDR and AFCA for a service dispute; report misconduct separately

1. Raise the problem with the business. Moneysmart’s complaint guide starts with the provider. If unresolved, make a written internal dispute resolution (IDR) complaint, identify the problem and remedy, and retain your originals.
2. Keep the response and dates. Record the acknowledgement, final response and applicable response deadline. Use the firm’s current procedure and AFCA guidance for your product; this page does not impose one universal timetable.
3. Check AFCA’s scope. If unresolved, use AFCA to check the firm and complaint eligibility, limits and time requirements. Moneysmart identifies AFCA as the independent financial dispute-resolution scheme; access to the process is not a guaranteed award.
4. Report the regulatory issue separately. ASIC’s misconduct guide distinguishes systemic or regulatory concerns from complaints that AFCA can handle. Do not assume a report to ASIC starts a compensation claim.

For OANDA Australia, request the current Australian complaint instructions rather than using the UK compliance email or FOS route. The Australian FSG lists its own IDR process. The UK contract is a different company’s agreement.

An FXCN complaint report does not lodge an ASIC report or AFCA case and does not preserve a legal deadline.

A clean alert search does not authenticate a payment

The Moneysmart Investor Alert List is not exhaustive. ASIC says an absent name does not mean the entity can be trusted, and listed contact details can change.

• Match the exact company, licence and role to the contract. Keep the website result as supplied, including a missing website field.
• Check the contact and payment recipient independently. Resolve unexplained differences before transferring funds.
• Compare the account’s home jurisdiction and client category with the service claimed. Do not substitute an Australian licence for another group company’s contract.
• Save a dated official result and the disclosure documents; repeat the check if the company, contact or terms change.

The FXCN domain tool can help organise a first check. It does not establish ASIC approval, current membership or safe withdrawals.

Questions and boundaries

Official sources checked 9 October 2026. ASIC’s register and the named example were opened directly in the browser. Provider documents and official policy text were retrieved through web text. AFCA pages were access-limited in this review; its procedure is linked, with no claim that an individual membership or case has been accepted. Other languages and broker scores below retain their separate review history. Send a correction.