Forex trading should be available for pretty much everybody in the world. However, some of the regulations may be different depending on your location.

One of the upcoming markets for FX trading is South Africa.

The country has been seeing some stability over the past few years opening up opportunities for its population to delve into the world of Forex trading. One of the benefits that traders in South Africa can find is the volatility of their currency, which immediately shows potential for high profits, but with high risks of course.

FSB Regulation in South Africa

South Africa falls under the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Board of South Africa (FSB). Forex brokers wanting to operate within this country will have to hold themselves accountable to this regulatory body.

Let us discover the laws FSB uses to deal with FX brokers operating in South Africa.

According to this best South African Forex brokers list, every financial intermediary is overseen and regulated by the FSB, which makes it a powerful body of authority, giving it the right to impose penalties and fines on firms that don’t comply with its laws.

The Van der Horst Committee found it essential to have a regulatory institution in the financial system, therefore the FSB was created as an independent body.

Thankfully for the traders, the FSB is a member of numerous national and international organizations. One of the most notable ones is the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and organizations situated in the South African Development Community region.

How the FSB protects its traders

One of the most important features of a regulatory body is its ability to satisfy its traders’ needs.

The FSB is no different as it had to deal with numerous amounts of customer complaints, for which they created a special service in 2002.

The service was named Ombud for Financial Services Providers. With the help of this “department” customers of FX brokers in South Africa will be able to resolve any types of disputes should the need arise.

Ombud for Financial Services Providers

The service is completely free for the traders, making it a lot more accessible.

However, the FSB deemed it necessary to impose some kinds of restrictions so that the service wasn’t abused in one way or another. One of the restrictions includes the volume of the disputed funds. For example, anything exceeding R800,000 does not fall under the jurisdiction of OUFSP.

Also, the dispute needs to have occurred after the 30th of September 2004.

Let’s look at the exact complaints you will be able to file to FAIS Ombud:

In the case of negligence from the side of a provider, the FAIS Ombud will offer you their services of resolving the dispute. This also applies to knowingly offering financial services that may have caused damage to the customer.

In the case of the complaint being subject to financial damages, the FAIS Ombud will offer you services of resolving the dispute.

In the case of unfair treatment, the FAIS Ombud will offer you services of resolving the dispute.

The FAIS Ombud can be contacted if the requirements of the FAIS Act are not complied with by the financial services provider.

Before consulting with the FAIS Ombud, please also make sure to try and resolve it with the financial services provider directly. Many smaller cases may damage your reputation and lead to longer waiting lists down the line.

Therefore you should always wait 6 weeks for the matter to be resolved by the financial services provider. If they do not comply, then you may bring it to the attention of the FAIS Ombud.

One of the reasons you may want to try a direct resolution is because the FAIS Ombud will have to conduct an investigation. Which means that at some point you will have to have a legal representative.

In this case, Ombud has the right to conduct any procedures necessary to speed up the investigations.

However, this types of procedures will rarely occur as most of the times disputes are resolved with a simple mediation from the side of Ombud, so you don’t need to start getting worried.