Are these lessor-known forex regulators trustworthy?

I never heard the 3 regulators below and believe they are not as famous as FCA, NFA, ASIC.
Does it mean we can't trust the 3 regulators to trade Forex at the brokers regulated by them?

. the Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS)
. the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
. The B.V.I Financial Services Commission(BVIFSC)

I can't speak of the others, but this one isn't a "regulator", per se, at all. Companies claiming to be "regulated" by it are concealing something. Some firms word it in such a way, on the "About" pages of their websites, to try to make it sound like some sort of "official body". It isn't. It's just a directive. Anyone within its jurisdiction can claim to be "regulated" by it.

The important thing, in the case of offshore "brokers" (they're often counterparty market-makers, really, not brokers at all), is to ask ourselves why they've chosen to be regulated in soft-touch countries like Cyprus. Sometimes the answer is all too apparent, given only a modicum of due diligence.

This is what I found on Google.

The Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS, FSFR) (Russian: Федеральная служба по финансовым рынкам, ФСФР) was a Russian federal executive body which regulated Russian financial markets including securities issuance and trading and supervision of exchanges, issuers, professional market participants and their Self-Regulatory Organisations; the Russian Federation Pension Fund; the State management company. A major social role of FFMS was to promote public understanding of securities laws and their practical application.
Headquartered in Moscow, the FFMS was a part of the Russian Government. The FFMS had 13 regional authorities:[2] in St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Oryol, Omsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Saratov and Irkutsk. There are thirteen departments and three independent divisions within the FFMS:[3]
Regulation and control over the collective investment department.[3]
Regulation of financial market participants department.[3]
Securities department.[3]
Surveillance activities in the securities market department.[3]
Legal department.[3]
Financial market regulation department.[3]
Administration and archives department.[3]
Economics, finance and accounting department.[3]
Information technology and economic support department.[3]
Information and monitoring of the financial market department.[3]
Preliminary control of the insurance market department.[3]
Economic analysis and control of the reliability of reporting by insurance companies department.[3]
Insurance supervision and monitoring of solvency-restoration procedures department.[3]

From March 23, 2004, to May 10, 2007, Oleg Vyugin was the Head of the FFMS. His four deputies was: Vladislav Streltsov, Sergei Kharlamov, Bembya Khulkhachiev and Vladimir Gusakov. Since May 10, 2007, Vladimir Milovidov has led the service.

History

The FFMS was established by President Vladimir Putin's Decree No. 314 dated 9 March 2004 "On the System and Structure of Federal Executive Branch Agencies". FFMS received the functions of the former Federal Fund Market Commission of Russia (Федеральная комиссия по рынку ценных бумаг), as well as some responsibilities of the former Ministry of Labour and Social Development of Russia and former Ministry of Antitrust Policy of Russia as well as the Russian Ministry of Finance.
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MiFID is the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Directive 2004/39/EC). In force since November 2007, this directive governs the provision of investment services in financial instruments by banks and investment firms and the operation of traditional stock exchanges and alternative trading venues.
While MiFID created competition between these services and brought more choice and lower prices for investors, shortcomings were exposed in the wake of the financial crisis.
In October 2011, the European Commission tabled proposals to revise the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID 2) with the aim of making financial markets more efficient, resilient and transparent, and to strengthen the protection of investors.
The framework directive

MiFID is the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Directive 2004/39/EC). It replaced the Investment Services Directive (ISD) adopted in 1993. MiFID was adopted in April 2004 and came into force in November 2007. Its aim is to improve the competitiveness of EU financial markets by creating a single market for investment services and activities, and ensuring a high degree of harmonised protection for investors in financial instruments, such as shares, bonds, derivatives and various structured products.
• Consolidated text of the Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments amending Council Directives 85/611/EEC and 93/6/EEC and Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC.


Implementing measures

In August 2006 the Commission adopted implementing measures (a directive and a regulation) to develop a number of the provisions set out in the framework directive 2004/39/EC. These measures emerged from a lengthy consultation and negotiation process. They were endorsed by the European Parliament and voted on in the ESC (European Securities Committee).
• Commission Directive 2006/73/EC implementing Directive 2004/39/EC as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive
• Commission Regulation (EC) No 1287/2006 implementing Directive 2004/39/EC as regards record-keeping obligations for investment firms, transaction reporting, market transparency, admission of financial instruments to trading, and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive
• Background documents


List of regulated markets

MiFID establishes a regulatory framework for the provision of investment services in financial instruments (such as brokerage, advice, dealing, portfolio management, underwriting etc.), for the operation of regulated markets by market operators and also establishes the powers and duties of national competent authorities in relation to these activities.

ESMA (European Securities Markets Agency) has collected this information among its members and will update the list on a regular basis. This database is a compilation of the information from all the national competent authorities. Some national authorities will, in addition, publish their own information separately on their websites.

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The BVI Financial Services Commission is an autonomous regulatory authority responsible for the regulation, supervision and inspection of all financial services in and from within the British Virgin Islands, including insurance, banking, trustee business, company management, mutual funds business as well as the registration of companies, limited partnerships, and intellectual property.[1]

The Commission now oversees all regulatory responsibilities previously handled by the government through the Financial Services Department. The Commission was established in 2001 pursuant to the Financial Services Commission Act, 2001[2] to try to protect the independence of the regulation of financial services. The establishment of the Commission was also part of certain international commitments by the BVI to play its part in the fight against cross border white collar crime while safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of legitimate business transactions.[3]

The Commission has also been tasked with new responsibilities including promoting public understanding of the financial system and its products, policing the perimeter of regulated activity, reducing financial crime and preventing market abuse. The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners is Mr Robin Gaul, who qualified as an accountant in the United Kingdom in 1967 and was a partner of KPMG, and served on various boards and committees in the BVI Public Sector, including the Development Bank of the Virgin Islands and the BVI Electricity Corporation. Mr Gaul was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Inaugural Board of the Financial Services Commission in 2002 and Chairman of the Board in May, 2006.[4] The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Commission is Robert Mathavious, who has held that position since the formation of the Commission. Prior to that Mr Mathavious worked for 25 years in Government as a civil servant,[4] and in 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies.

The Forex market as well as other financial markets and institutions, working with money, require strict control by the state or regulatory authority. I recommend to work with brokers which have deal with such regulators:
ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission)
IFSC (Belize International Financial Services Commission)
FSC BVI (Financial Services Commission British Virgin Islands)
FSA (Financial Services Authority)
FSA UK (Financial Services Authority United Kingdom)
BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority)
Danish FSA (Danish Financial Supervisory Authority)
ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority)
MiFID (The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive)
CDCC (Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation)
BCSC (British Columbia Securities Commission)
OSC (Ontario Securities Commission)
CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission)
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
NFA (National Futures Association)
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Comission)
FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority)
Swedish FSA (Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority)
FSA Japan (Financial Services Agency of Japan)

A license from such organizations means that the brokerage company disclosed the state of its present owners, charter documents were checked.

It seems 2 among the 3 in your list.

However, is there a way to 100% check or confirm whether I can trust a broker under a regulator?

Yes. Go to the website of the regulator that the broker claims to be regulated under and search for the broker in the regulators' database. For me personally, I only trade with brokers regulated under FCA in the UK (the REAL one from UK not like affliated ones like FCA Cyprus) , CFTC/NFA in the USA, IIROC in Canada and ASIC in Australia (at the last resort) and no one else. Because these are the ONLY regulators under which IF the broker that you invest your money with is registered with them, you can get your money back up to a certain amount if the broker goes under and have a chance to get your money back if the broker refuses to give you your money back (there was a case of a retail trader where forex.com forfeited all of the traders' profit and refused to give it back to the trader and the case went to FCA arbitration and FCA sided with forex.com and agreed with its forfeiture). And they have the best dispute resolution process and enforcement procedure.

In all of those four regulators' website, they all have databases where you can search for the firm's name or some sort of registration or license number which the brokers should publish clearly on their website. Many times you will find that information in the "About US" section or somewhere at the bottom of the website.

When worst comes to worst, you should be able to search for the broker by their name. And regulators like CFTC/NFA in the USA and IIROC in Canada will even publish the company's disciplinary action history (if any) with the regulator so you have an idea of how the broker is. And if you can find the broker by either the name or registration number, DON'T dismiss them right away (I have seen the brokers sometimes registered under different or multiple names in the database). Ask the broker for their registration information. If the broker is registered, they will be eager to give you that information. Do the search again using the registration information that the broker gave you and if you still cannot find the broker in the regulator's database, then they are not registered no matter what they claim.

The broker could have several big regulations, but if they don't want to pay you - they won't. Just will refer to some new paragraph of the rules. Simple fraud

Well if the broker is regulated by some of the more developed regulators. You can launch a complaint against them with the regulators and they will take a look at it and force them to pay you if you do have a legitimate reason. That's WHY I find choosing the broker with "good" regulator is very important. That's the ONLY protection we have as a retail trader.

Thank you very much, Forexia.

I think that money always needs a guarantee so better to trade with regulated brokers .
I remember I had a problem with a broker and I contacted NFA and CFTC ,they replied me very good and asked me for more information's and were very good I see them the best regulators so the USA forex companies are most safe they can not run with your money .after them come the FCA ,then ASIC .
The rest are weak I think lets see how Cyprus deal with iron forex fraud and how will it end.
all have a nice day

The Cyprus regulator is NOT going to do ANYTHING with the IronFx fraud. Trust me. The "investigation" will be "ongoing" forever and no results will ever come out. IronFx is probably one of the biggest contributor to the Cyprus regulator; they are NOT going to do anything to upset IronFx. You watch.

if they act negatively they will hurt there own self and people no longer will trust there regulation and so any company that run for it .​
they will do something or they will lose a big portion of this market and I hope they will do something about it.
have a nice day sir

I hope so too but I have a feeling that they are not going to care. Either that or they don't have the necessary procedure and resources to investigate and hold IronFx responsible and force IronFx to return the money back to those investors.

It takes a lot of money and the necessary legal procedures and expertise to go after bad companies and many times those companies are richer and more powerful than those regulators. And the integrity and quality of the regulators makes a difference too.

Yes you are right I guess but think about it that way no one will trust Cyprus regulation no more and brokers that use them which are numerous in numbers ,they are the most wanted companies because they have an average in there funding and withdrawal ways ,any one can trade with them in just minutes .also FCA and other Europe regulators may act and stop issuing license to companies that carry Cyprus regulation as they do now meaning that the largest potential market for forex which is Europe will be lost .I am waiting to see how it ends and if they did nothing to those people I will never trade with cysec regulated brokers .I will move to uk and usa ,Australia . and a lot will follow me .

I don't take jock's on money



have a nice day sir

They don't care. Those companies and those regulators, they are not going for the long term, the future trust. They only want to make money NOW and there are PLENTY of investors especially foreign investors from other parts of the world like China who are not familiar with the various countries' financial regulation qualities and will buy into their advertising and give them money. Once they've got the money, they've got the money. They are not going to care that in the future no one will trust Cyprus regulations and etc.; it's not their problem.

The largest forex market has ALWAYS been and will ALWAYS be in London UK still in Europe and that's NOT going to change just because they don't find Cyprus regulations to be inadequate in investor protection and that's regardless whether those Cyprus brokers can get FCA licenses or not. Right now as soon as I see the license that those Cyprus got in FCA is an affliated FCA license for Cyprus and NOT a genuine REAL FCA license from UK, I avoid them anyway because the affiliated FCA license or I think they are called member country FCA license for countries outside of UK is different and carries different rules and regulations and are generally more lax than the real FCA license from UK. Many of the things that are not allowed under the FCA license from UK are allowed under the affiliated FCA one even though they might show the FCA logo on their website. So if I am not going to invest with a broker that's registered with Cyprus Regulator, I am NOT going to invest with that broker either just because it's got an FCA logo plastered on the license now.

no worry I think things will get better this is the rule in life we use to walk only . now we can fly .
have a nice day sir ​

How do you know CySEC has regulating issue on IronFx? Where to see the status or progress?

If regulation is so important, why are there so many traders trading at InstaForex?
After investigating, I found InstaForex hasn't any regulation for Forex Trading.