Financial Services Agency

Forex trading has been very popular in Japan for a long time, but the market remains almost impenetrable to foreign brokers for the tight regulation. Moreover, leverage restrictions are significantly tighter than some of the other major territories.

Financial Services Agency(FSA), set up in 2000, is a Japanese government agency and an integrated financial regulator responsible for overseeing banking, securities and exchange, and insurance sectors in order to ensure the stability of the financial system of Japan. The FSA also oversees the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, as well as the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board.

The site of FSA provides information about various laws and regulations, measures, regulated institutions, and topical information. In addition, the site also provides annual reports, announcements, and FAQs related to the financial industry.

1. Safety of Client Funds：

Keeping customer assets separate from properties of a firm.

2. Requirement on Forex Brokers' Reports：

A business report for each business year; Anti-money laundering Reports; Net Capital Report.

Generally speaking, Japan FSA-regulated broker profile will be found at the List of licensed(registered)Financial Institutions page on Japan FSA website. Try to find it and check if it will match the info from the broker website.

The detailed steps are as follow:

1. Find the licensed/reference no.(preferred) or name of the forex broker, which you can get from the broker's website;

2. Download Financial Instruments Business Operators list and try to search the broker's name in the list.

https://www.fsa.go.jp/en/regulated/licensed/index.html#03;

3. If the broker's name is not in the list, it means that it may be an unauthorized broker and please watch out it. 

If yes, the next step you need to do is to check the broker has the authorization to provide financial service of 'Type I Financial Instruments Business' ;

4. If all the above steps have been done, don't forget to check the most important information: check if the broker details in the Japan FSA list matches the ones you'll go to trade with, especially the website and email etc. If no, please keep away the broker because it's probably an unauthorized firm and your money will fall in danger.

When you have disputes with a Japan FSA-regulated broker, you can proceed the following ways:

1st way: The recommended way is to contact the broker directly and discuss with them to find a win-win resolution.

2nd way: If you're not satisfied with the broker's resolution, try to contact FINMAC in Japan, which helps to solve the disputes between the forex broker and the investor.

You can submit an online consult/complaint form to FINMAC: https://www.finmac.or.jp/contact/soudan/. 

3rd way: If the first 2 ways above can't solve the dispute, the last way is to issue a case to the court in Japan.