Fintech trading platform operator licence map

Who this helps

• - Fintech founders
• - Trading platform operators
• - Product managers
• - Venue operators
• - Execution technology teams

Typical job titles

• - Trading platform founder
• - Market operator
• - Execution platform product manager
• - ATS operator
• - Fintech COO

Core question

Does the product merely provide software, or does it bring together trading interests, route or execute orders, control access, intermediate transactions, hold assets, or operate a market-like system?

Activity triggers

• - The system matches, routes, executes, displays, or brings together orders or trading interests.
• - The platform decides access rules, onboarding, product eligibility, venue rules, or execution logic.
• - Revenue is tied to spreads, transaction fees, commissions, listings, success fees, subscriptions, or volume.
• - The platform combines advice, research, social trading, custody, margin, tokenised securities, or fund subscriptions.
• - Technology owners control systems used for market surveillance, trade reporting, records, cyber, or operational resilience.

Licence and registration map

• - US: check ATS, exchange, broker-dealer, Form ATS/Form ATS-N, FINRA membership, custody, and adviser/broker overlap.
• - UK: check MTF/OTF, recognised investment exchange, arranging/dealing/advising, CASS, SM&CR, and operational readiness.
• - Singapore: check approved exchange, recognised market operator, CMS dealing/custody, representative, and technology-risk controls.
• - Hong Kong: check SFC dealing, automated trading services, virtual asset, Type 1/4/9, and active-marketing facts where relevant.
• - Australia: check market licence, AFSL dealing/advice/custody, financial market operator, and responsible manager evidence.

Exam or competence checks

• - Platform founders often need key-person, responsible person, principal, or senior manager evidence rather than only a trading exam.
• - Technology and operations owners should evidence cyber, resilience, market conduct, reporting, and client asset controls.
• - If staff also deal, advise, supervise, or operate covered broker-dealer functions, separate individual registration or exam checks may apply.

Application evidence

• - End-to-end platform flow from marketing, onboarding, order entry, matching/routing, execution, custody, reporting, complaints, and exit.
• - Permission map for software-only, adviser, broker, market operator, ATS, MTF/OTF, custody, and fund-marketing features.
• - Market conduct, surveillance, fair access, conflicts, best execution, outage, incident, and cyber controls.
• - Vendor, cloud, outsourcing, data, entitlement, change-control, and BCP evidence.
• - Capital, financial resources, wind-down, client asset, and complaint-handling evidence matched to launch scope.

Register checks

• - Check whether comparable firms appear as broker-dealers, ATSs, MTFs/OTFs, RMOs, CMS licensees, AFSL holders, or market operators.
• - Check official lists such as the SEC ATS list and public financial services registers before relying on platform labels.
• - Record product features, jurisdictions, users, instruments, client type, custody position, and route assumptions together.

Jurisdiction notes

Common mistakes

• - Calling a matching, routing, or market-access product just software.
• - Building the licence analysis around UI labels instead of order, custody, compensation, access, and execution facts.
• - Leaving cyber, outage, market conduct, surveillance, and vendor controls until after the route is chosen.

Disclaimer

Information on LicenseCompare is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, tax, investment, or professional advice. Licensing requirements depend on facts and change over time. Always consult official regulator materials and qualified professional advisers.