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A register entry is the page that a regulator publishes about a particular entity in its public register, giving its name, status and activities. A licence number is a key that takes you to this entry; it is not proof of anything in itself. And this is what the official texts themselves do: the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) refer in their alerts to the register of each, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) refers to the website of the authority that licenses the entity, and the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) refers to its own website.
The number points you to the entry, and the entry alone answers your questions: which entity this is, whether it is licensed, and for which activity. A genuine number may appear on a website or in a document while the party making the offer is not its holder: in an alert from the DFSA it was stated that fraudsters used the name of a licensed firm, its address and its DFSA reference number without permission, and the fraud-spotting lesson deals with this case.
The name of the field and the shape of the number differ between registers. This is what was read in each, not a general rule about numbers:
What you read from the entry, in this order: the name, then the status, then the trading name and the address
Registers write an entity’s status in their own words, and you must read it as it is printed. In the DFSA register an entity is classified by “Firm Type:”, and this filter has categories followed by the word “(Withdrawn)”, such as “Authorised Firms (Withdrawn)”, and categories for recognised bodies followed by the word “(Revoked)”, such as “Recognised Bodies (Revoked)”. In the FSRA register there is a filter called “Licensed Status” whose values are “Active”, “Inactive” and “Withdrawn”.
What each word means in law is set by the authority that owns the register, and this lesson does not explain it. What this lesson says is a rule of work, not a rule of an authority: any status that is not active, or a category followed by the word “(Withdrawn)” or “(Revoked)”, ends the check, however tempting the offer.
There is a trap in the reading. The field “Legal Status:” in the DFSA entry that was read holds the company’s legal form (“DIFC Company”), not its licensing status. The FSRA’s entries have a field of the same name, so read what it holds before you count it as an answer on status. In the CMA list there is a note on some names, explained in the lesson on regulation in the Gulf, so go back to it there.
In the DFSA entry that was read there is a field “Trading Name:” under the company’s name, which means that an entry may carry two names. The FSRA list, by contrast, shows only a “Company name” column, and the CMA’s cards one name. This is only what was read, so do not assume that every entry in every register carries both names. Compare the name in the offer with every name the entry shows, and if it matches neither, ask which legal entity will sign with you, as the lesson on checking a broker explained.
The names of licensed entities are themselves material for imitation. Among the indicators of unlicensed activities on SAMA’s page is the use of names similar to those of licensed entities to create a false sense of credibility. So similarity of name is not enough, and the match is against the name field in the entry.
Compare the address with what the register shows where it shows one: the address field in the DFSA entry that was read, and the address column in the FSRA list; the CMA’s cards, though, carry no address. As for the website and its domain, that is the subject of the fraud-spotting lesson.
The lesson on regulation in the Gulf showed that the DFSA distinguishes between its register and the register of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The FSRA asks for the same thing: the register of the ADGM Registration Authority for someone who claims to be incorporated or registered in ADGM, and the FSRA’s register to find out whether the entity has permission for a regulated activity. A company may be in the registration register and have no entry in the licensing register.
From outside the two financial free zones comes an example that an authority gives in its own words. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority says, in a warning notice it published: “The Authority further clarifies that it does NOT issue licences for Forex trading or brokerage activities in this jurisdiction.” It adds, in the same notice, in substance, that any company registered there that engages in this activity must obtain the licence or authorisation from the jurisdiction in which its clients are located. This is what that authority says about its own companies, and it is not generalised to other jurisdictions.
In the same notice the authority warns of an entity that it says is not registered with it, describes its claims, among them the use of a purported registration number, as misleading, and says that the documents the entity presents as registration, licensing or affiliation with the authority are forged. So a registration number attributed to an authority is verified only by looking it up in that authority’s own register.
What you are not usually toldA company may be registered with an authority, and that same authority says that it does not grant licences for forex trading. This is what the St. Vincent and the Grenadines authority says about itself, and about its own companies. So the phrase “a company registered in…” on a broker’s website does not prove that it is licensed, and that authority says that the licence is to be obtained from the jurisdiction in which the clients are located. So ask: which authority licenses this entity for this activity, and where is its entry with that authority?
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) states in a supervisory briefing dated 7 July 2026 that an investment firm authorised in one European Union Member State and supervised in that Member State can provide investment services in another Member State under the freedom to provide services (Article 34) or the freedom of establishment (Article 35) of the directive known as MiFID II, and this is the EU passport. The briefing says that the national competent authority in the home Member State is responsible for supervising the cross-border services that the firm provides. And ESMA says, in a 2022 peer review, that the supervision of cross-border activities under Article 34, for firms targeting retail clients, rests with the national competent authorities in the home Member States.
The briefing is an ESMA document and not the text of the directive; it is, by its own text, non-binding, and what is stated above is attributed to ESMA.
The practical question is the question of the lesson on checking a broker: which authority does the client agreement name for the entity that will hold your account? If it names a European authority, read the entity’s entry with that authority, in the same order: the name, then the status, then the trading name and the address.
| The field | What you check | What ends the check |
|---|---|---|
| Licence number | Whether it leads you to an entry under the same entity’s name in the register of the authority that the client agreement names | A number that does not lead to an entry, or an entry under another name |
| Status | The word as the register prints it | Any status that is not active, or a category followed by the word “(Withdrawn)” or “(Revoked)” |
| Legal Status | Whether it holds the company’s legal form, as in the DFSA entry that was read | It does not end the check by itself; the mistake is to count it as a licensing status, so read the status field |
| Name and trading name | Whether the name in the offer is one of them | A different name with no explanation: go back to the client agreement |
| Address | The offer’s address against the entry’s address, where the register shows it | A different address with no explanation |
| Registered | Whether the entity has an entry in the licensing register, not in the registration register alone | Registration without a licensing entry |
| Licensed in Europe | Which authority the agreement names, and what the entity’s entry shows with it | No authority named by the agreement, or no entry with it |
WarningLeveraged trading in CFDs carries high risk, and you may lose the entire amount you deposited. This lesson is an educational explanation of the nature of the product, not a recommendation to trade and not investment advice.
The lesson “How to spot trading fraud before you transfer money” covers what surrounds the register: how the offer reaches you, what warning lists say, that absence from a list is not approval, and how to check a site’s domain.
