Best Forex Brokers in New Zealand

History of Forex Brokers in New Zealand

New Zealand is relatively a newcomer in the industry of retail trading. Despite the country’s numerous merits, and commercial and economic viability, the market of retail Forex trading has had massive hits. This is because the country has painfully witnessed plenty of scams over the past years. Past regulatory guidelines of New Zealand proved inconsequential in trying to tackle financial abuse. Consequently, the economy of New Zealand nose-dived during the 2007 and 2008 financial crises. A magnification of the financial crisis was further done by the highly complacent and severe inaction nature of the country’s previous industry regulation body, the Securities Commission of New Zealand.

To solve these mishaps, the parliament of New Zealand worked out its shortcomings by introducing another regulatory authority. This new organization was known as the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). FMA has proven worthy of the authority than any other combination of regulatory agencies.

FMA is solely responsible to turn about the misfortunes of New Zealand by curbing the buildup of scams as well as ensuring the protection of investors and inflicting fines and sanctions on brokers that do not meet its standards. This is done through proactive regulation.

Currently, the country’s Forex brokers have a high reputation for being committed to genuine brokerage services, honest trader trust, clients’ funds’ safety, transparent customer service as well as being dedicated to maintaining markets’ integrity. The institution must strictly enforce the guidelines that were enforced by the regulatory organization. Failure to abide by these regulations will lead to stern measures which include issuing, revoking, and canceling licenses together with fine inductions as well as financial irregularities penalties.  

New Zealand Forex broker's regulations

According to experts, New Zealand lacks enough Forex regulations. The body is keen to make traders fairly gain profits and a lot of strategies have been put in place to ensure this is realized and cushion traders from unnecessary risk and fraud. Generally, New Zealand has three regulatory bodies that have a mission to make the Forex world streamlined within New Zealand. Below are the Forex regulators.

1. FSPR

FSPR stands for Financial Service Providers Register. The function of this agency is to collect and gather informational data about every Forex broker registered and situated in New Zealand. If such agencies are situated in another country, then Financial Service Providers Register has the authority to provide both safety measures and official licenses to the brokers.

1. FSCL

This agency facilitates traders with the ability to file for complaints claims or even suggestions on how the industry can be improved better and things to look out for. FSCL has plenty of measures put in place to guide brokers who reside in New Zealand. However, if a broker fraudulently operates courtesy or if any trader’s activity has mischief, then FSCL is responsible to look into the case and giving punishment if the trader is guilty.

1. FMA

Financial Markets Authority, FMA, is the main authority that ensures that the entire Forex world in New Zealand is regulated. FMA has the legal authority mandated to accept complaints while also having the responsibility of registering Forex brokers. Transparency, though, seems to be FMA’s main mission which has been acquired over the few past years. New Zealand Forex brokers have become trustworthy, law-abiding, and transparent in all their activities leading to better trading terms.

Requirements to be a Forex broker in New Zealand

FSPR, FMA, and FSCL are the institutions in New Zealand that govern and regulate the FX industry. However, they must coexist as their actions are dependent on each other. Nonetheless, even though there are procedures for registration requirements for financial services, it is very fair to point out that the world of Forex trading in New Zealand is poorly regulated and has no specific supervision agency.

Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR). This agency is involved in registering government businesses and institutions that offer financial services. It is the responsibility of all New Zealand brokers to get registered with the FSPR. The law requires that every Forex dealer who operates business in New Zealand should and must be duly registered as a provider of financial service. Preceding this registration, providers of financial services have to have full membership in a scheme of dispute resolution approved by FSPR. Forex traders are subject to additional regulatory requirements by other institutions and FSPR's main role is to ensure law and order in the online Forex trading world.

No authorizations or licenses, except registration as a provider of financial service, are required to provide an exchange of foreign currency. However, the trader should only be involved in such money services and not any other financial activities. Such activities are normally subject to relatively limited regulations.

Nonetheless, FMA is the organization that authorizes contracts by Forex dealers so that they can have future contract dealings and be covered by law in case of crises. The Act of 1988 of the Securities Market defines ‘Futures contracts’ and is inclusive of products that are cash-settled derivatives. It includes all contract's difference margins for Forex products and Forex pairs, contracts that are cash-settled or even swapped. New Zealand Gazette has the publications of authorizations of other futures dealers (www.gazette.govt.nz). Authorization proofs should be provided whenever needed by any authorized dealer.

Limitations and comparisons to other countries

New Zealand Forex industry rules and guidelines are similar to UK's and Cyprus'. These rules are usually similar in most countries. Even the brokers are similar too. New Zealand has put in place rules and regulations regarding what you can or cannot do. There are several Forex trading options if you’re situated in New Zealand. The most important thing here is that you should find any method that is suitable for you. Brokers have adopted services portfolios and legal structures similar to those implemented in Australia. This is to say that these traders have extensive freedom to trade in the markets. To top it all, they do not face any barriers enforced by agencies such as CFTC and NFA.

There is more concern about the welfare of consumers by Forex brokers because of the stringent FMA regime. FMA is quick to revoke licenses and impose penalties when a broker is found to be deviating from the guidelines. Sometime back, there were extensive sanctions to the extent that honest brokerages had to face license suspensions. This was simply because they could not conform to new regulations. Many of the Forex brokers who were reliable and genuine had to speak out over FMA’s inability to smoothen transitions from the guidelines of the Security Commissions. It reached an extent that there was the termination of licenses for no apparent reason. What the FMA did was Reinstating genuine Forex brokers’ licenses as long as every broker strictly adhered to the new guidelines without fail.

To be precise, when it comes to investors’ safety, FMA offers the perfect environment for regulatory Forex trading.

Popular Forex brokers in New Zealand

NoaFX

NoaFX is one foreign exchange broker that is unique. It takes one step ahead of the concept of a conventional broker by providing ECN accounts that will be traders’ standards. Different types of accounts are available. These depend on factors like the initial deposit.

NoaFX is visibly not for any average FX broker. NoaFX is a Capital Market Investments brokerage arm that is a hedge funder with a significant role in over 30 countries. NoaFX was founded in the year 2013. However, the idea of beginning a brokerage came out of the internal requirements of the group to have the management of $1 billion cash flows.

FX Trend

FX-Trend is a Forex broker based in Ukraine but with its headquarters based in New Zealand. This broker is under the regulations of the FSP in New Zealand. The organization, therefore, is under different regulatory guidelines which have been stipulated by FSP from period to period. Exclusive of its headquarters in New Zealand, FX-Trend has other several representative offices that are based in various parts of Poland and Ukraine. Nonetheless, the organization has no visible signs in other global cities. 

FXCitizen

FxCitizen is another brokerage firm in New Zealand. It works on the White Label platform which makes it different from the conventional brokerage concept. A white label agency is simply one entity that sells another organization’s services or products as an affiliation to make profits, either through using hefty commissions on earnings or via a model of profit sharing. There are several Forex brokers in white label who are industry-based and FxCitizen is amongst the largest.

FXUnited Forex Broker

Over the past few years, what Forex brokers had to watch out for was FXUnited. However, ever since the introduction of by-rules by the regulatory agency, which is the broker's governor, situations are now a challenge for the agency. However, do not worry, FXUnited is considered still to be a successful firm in the world of FX markets. The firm’s love for the world of automobiles and its motorsports affinity pact has made it gain numerous fans globally.

Land-FX

Mainland Europe and Asia among other several countries are places that favor Land-FX as their Forex broker. Land-FX is based in New Zealand. Nevertheless, the firm has head offices in the U.S. and the UK. Land-FX is a conventional FX broker which provides all the services of usual brokers for average retail traders. A scrutiny of the firm’s features has to be done via a review of the Land-FX to check whether this Forex broker is one to look out for shortly. 

XM

XM was established in 2009 and so far gained fame and accolade with more than 100,000 clients. This account offers a free $30 on opening an account. It is fairly easy to open and has great customer service. With a demos account, you can test your knowledge and skills in FX but you do not make any profits or losses. It's all virtual. They offer services in more than 15 world languages and thus cater to most non-English speaking countries. It uses both the web-based platform and the MetaTrader 4 software.

Conclusion

New Zealand trading has safe trading opportunities that are highly profitable. Stringent measures have been put in place to combat fraudulent brokerages and to provide a well-regulated FX industry. It is by far one of the best FX markets in the region. It provides for the ability to file complaints and suggestions to a body that's well-financed by the government and that's very strict. As a trader, you're guaranteed your safety. Trading FX in New Zealand gives you a guarantee that you will have full protection and cover from insincere dealings. You can rest assured that New Zealand is a country with good brokers as well as bettered regulations. Find more information about New Zealand FX trading market on topbrokers.com and top brokers.