Platforms · Software · Providers · Markets
On 29 October 2026, FM Intelligence estimated that a South African retail broker acting as a counterparty would need R68.5 million ($3.8 million) in its first year. The estimate for an agent with the same marketing spend is R24.6 million ($1.4 million).
Rules split marketing from counterparty activity
A financial services provider (FSP) licence in South Africa allows a firm to market CFDs, but not to take the counterparty role. For that, a firm needs Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) authorisation as an over-the-counter derivative provider (ODP). The additional permission brings a separate capital requirement.
Register records withdrawals and broker exits
The register has about 70 non-bank entries, a cumulative tally from a FinanceMagnates.com review in June rather than an FSCA list. It includes 26 withdrawn applications and four returned licences. Publicly identified holders include Exness, Scope Markets, VALR, ATFX and Capital.com; Capital.com gained both FSP and ODP permissions in June.
IG ended its rand-account offering before shutting its Sandton office in February, nine months later. It now makes IG Prime available to Investec, which presents the service under its own brand. Under the FSP route, CXM Group agreed to buy TD Markets, whose active African client base is more than 50,000. XTB sold its South African licensed unit for $645,000; the entity had not traded.
Capital requirements widen the funding gap
FSCA Conduct Standard 1 of 2018 requires an ODP to hold equity capital equivalent to six months or more of operating costs in South Africa. In the model, R17.4 million is set aside for that test, in addition to R51.1 million in setup and running costs; each route spends R6 million on marketing. The principal case uses higher staff, platform and office inputs. With marketing at R18 million, its total rises to R90.4 million ($5.1 million), including R24.3 million in capital. The standard also requires a fixed local address and a South African bank account.
Traffic points to South African demand
An FM Intelligence heat map in the analysis published by Finance Magnates puts South Africa at 3.9 million organic visits to broker websites in Q3 2026, against 6.7 million for Africa. Adjusted for population, desktop visits from South Africa are near France's level. No regulator counts active CFD traders. The full analysis gives client break-even thresholds across four revenue scenarios and compares South Africa's rules with those in Kenya and Nigeria.
What this means on the desk
Operators considering the ODP route should ask the FSCA how it will define operating costs for the six-month capital test. They should also check how the local address and South African bank account requirements fit their entity plans, and validate the staff, platform and office assumptions against their own build.
The reported analysis does not give the break-even client thresholds, although it says the full model covers four revenue levels. Firms should obtain those figures and test them against their own client-volume assumptions before choosing a permission route. The absence of an official active-trader count makes that validation more important.
