What is the Australian CFD and FX Forum?
CMC Markets co-founded the CFD Forum in 2012 to continually raise industry standards and provide greater protection against one of the biggest issues facing many CFD and FX traders in Australia today – to ensure client money is held safely in a segregated, Australian bank account and not used for hedging or any other operational purpose.
Our role as the co-founder
The Australian CFD and FX Forum is an industry body, established by Australia’s leading CFD providers, to continually raise industry standards. It started with conversations with ASIC who were keen for the industry to self-regulate in key areas. It’s all about the industry working closely together to raise standards and offer greater investor protection, as well as increasing their understanding of who they’re dealing with and the risks in trading CFDs
CMC Markets co-authored the Australian CFD and FX Forum Best Practice Standards and continues to consult with ASIC and the government to drive a higher standard of regulation.
Today, its core purpose remains to continuously improve the industry and educate investors on how to mitigate risk. It also addresses specific issues and investor concerns that are not covered by legislation. And thirdly, consistently encourages all CFD providers to join the Forum and sign up to its 16 Standards.
Find out more about the forum's objectives
- Developing and implementing standards to enhance the efficient operation, transparency and overall investor confidence in CFDs and the CFD industry
- Encouragement of the highest standards of ethics, integrity, financial disclosure and business dealing among its members
- Advancement in the protection of Client Money to create greater consumer confidence in CFDs
- Promotion of the best interests of Members to regulators, investors, government, the media and other key stakeholders
- Lobbying relevant legislative bodies and regulators where relevant, to further Forum objectives
- Build consensus on the approach to resolving ongoing issues with CFDs, in support of sustainability and future growth of the forum and wider CFD industry
- Increasing the skills and knowledge of CFD industry Members and the wider community through delivery of quality education on CFDs
- Assisting and supporting Members as may be required in order to help them to achieve and/or comply with Forum objectives
How many members make up the CFD and FX Forum?
There are four members currently in the CFD Forum who have agreed to the sixteen Standards, representing over 60% of the CFD industry by market share. The Forum was incorporated as a forum in August 2013 and we are speaking with potential new members currently.
Not all providers are part of the CFD Forum, however, we are working to encourage more to join regardless of business model or size. We are keen to grow membership numbers and establish the Forum’s standards, so the industry can self-regulate and increase investor confidence whilst fully segregating client money.