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Forex and CFD brokers
A forex or CFD broker has collapsed. We identify the applicable compensation mechanism and set out its real limits
The broker's licence has been revoked, the platform is unresponsive, withdrawals are frozen. This does not mean your money is gone for good: depending on the jurisdiction of the broker's licence, a statutory route may exist — a compensation fund, a complaint to the regulator, or a civil action. We determine which mechanism applies to your particular case and set out its limits — the payout ceiling and the realistic timeframes — as early as the first conversation.
Fondo Nazionale di GaranziaFSCSCySEC / ICFFCACivil restitution
Milan Bar AssociationSpecialist lawyer in banking and financial markets lawPractice before CONSOB, the FCA, and CySECNetwork of correspondent lawyers in Germany, the UK, and CyprusBanking and financial markets law committeeItalian National Bar CouncilAdvisor to consumer associations in MilanThird-party litigation fundingProfessional liability insurance: cover up to €10 million
Areas of work
What exactly we help with
The compensation mechanism depends on the jurisdiction of the broker's licence and on what actually happened — insolvency, licence revocation, or deliberate stalling of your withdrawals. Here are the most common scenarios.
Fondo Nazionale di Garanzia (Italy)
Claims for compensation to the Fondo Nazionale di Garanzia where a participating intermediary has been placed in compulsory administrative liquidation or another insolvency procedure and the client's claim has been admitted in that procedure. Compensation runs up to EUR 20,000 per investor, with no percentage share, and covers only participating intermediaries — banks, Italian investment firms (SIM) and EU investment firms. An offshore or unlicensed broker falls outside it: we tell you that before the claim is filed, not after.
FSCS compensation scheme (United Kingdom)
Claims filed after a broker enters special administration: confirming your retail-client status and separating client money from trading bonuses. The limit is up to GBP 85,000 per person for firms declared in default on or after 1 April 2019.
Cypriot Investor Compensation Fund (ICF)
Claims to the Investor Compensation Fund where a CySEC-licensed CFD broker becomes insolvent. The payout is the lesser of two amounts: 90% of the covered claim or EUR 20,000. Professional clients are excluded — which is why we verify your status first.
Complaint to CySEC and claim support
Complaints to the Cypriot regulator for breaches of capital requirements and client-money handling rules. CySEC findings on their own recover no money — but they become the evidential basis for an individual claim for compensation, which we pursue in parallel.
Complaint to the FCA and claim support
Complaints to the UK regulator over unauthorised advice and improper reclassification of a client. An FCA Final Notice becomes a public document and evidence in your claim — investigations take months, so we file the complaint as early as possible, while payment records and correspondence are still available.
Civil restitution against the broker
Civil actions for hidden commissions, abnormal spread widening, order-execution manipulation and forced reclassification. In civil terms the claim rests on non-contractual (tort) liability under art. 2043 of the Italian Civil Code, which in Italian law also covers purely financial loss; where the money was paid under an invalid contract, restitution of an undue payment under art. 2033 of the Civil Code runs alongside it. As evidence we use an independent technical expert report on order execution.
How we work
How a typical case unfolds
Whether the matter concerns a claim to a compensation fund or an action before the courts, we follow the same step-by-step approach.
Securing the evidence
We immediately preserve statements, order history, correspondence and screenshots of your account dashboard — before the platform is switched off. In parallel, we establish the status of the broker's licence and its jurisdiction of registration.
Diagnosing the mechanism and an honest assessment of the limits
We identify the applicable route — Fondo Nazionale di Garanzia, FSCS, ICF, a complaint to the competent supervisory authority, or litigation. We do not promise full recovery: what we owe you is our best efforts, not a guaranteed result. We set out the compensation ceiling that applies and the realistic timeframes within which the chosen mechanism operates.
Filing the claim, complaint or action
We prepare the claim to the fund within the applicable deadlines, the complaint to the supervisory authority, or the court action — where needed, supported by independent technical expert evidence on order execution. Where the claim arises out of the contractual relationship with the intermediary, we attempt mediation before going to court: in disputes over banking and financial contracts an attempt at mediation is a precondition for the court claim to be admissible (art. 5, Legislative Decree 28/2010). It is not required where the action is purely non-contractual, against those who ran the platform without ever having entered into a contract with you.
Seeing it through to a decision
Compensation proceedings run for years, and a regulator or fund may stay silent for months. We report on progress regularly — even when there is no news of substance — and see the matter through to the final decision of the fund, regulator or court, including an appeal where there are grounds for one.
From practice
A case by which we calibrate expectations
Our approach is precise diagnosis, not a promise: a regulator's findings confirm the broker's misconduct, but on their own they do not amount to compensation — the mechanism and the limits of recovery we establish separately.
Forex TB Limited (FRN 729874) · FCA Final Notice, 2024The UK regulator fined the CFD broker Forex TB Limited (FXTB) GBP 276,100 for unfair treatment of clients, providing investment advice without authorisation, and pushing clients towards giving false answers in order to reclassify them as "professional clients". The fine went to the state, not to clients — which is why we pursue an affected investor's individual claim as separate proceedings, for which the FCA's findings serve as evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about forex and CFD brokers
No. Compensation funds protect only the clients of licensed firms within their own jurisdiction. Against an unlicensed broker, what remains are tort claims, chargeback mechanisms and claims against the payment intermediaries your money passed through.
Not necessarily. Reclassification does exclude you from ICF protection and removes leverage caps — but it can be challenged if the broker itself pushed you towards giving false answers on the questionnaire. The FXTB case shows that regulators treat this practice as a violation.
Nothing. The first 30 minutes are free and are used to realistically assess your situation and your chances.
Usually within 12 hours on business days — faster in urgent cases.
Yes, by phone or video call — an in-person meeting at our Milan office is also possible.
The fee is agreed in writing before any work begins: fees are freely negotiated under Italian law (art. 13(2)-(3), Law 247/2012) and the written estimate itemises charges, expenses and fee separately. On top of the base fee, a palmario may be agreed: an additional amount equal to 10% of the value of the matter, fixed when the engagement is signed and payable only if the outcome is favourable. The amount is therefore known from the outset and does not vary with how much is actually recovered — agreeing a percentage of the value of the matter is expressly permitted (art. 13(3)), whereas agreeing a fee consisting of a share of what is recovered is prohibited (art. 13(4)). State-funded legal aid is also available. Full details are on our fees page.
Yes. Our practice covers clients across Europe: we correspond with CONSOB, Banca d'Italia and IVASS — each within its own remit — as well as with foreign regulators such as CySEC, the FCA and BaFin, whatever country the client lives in, and we bring claims before the Italian courts against foreign brokers where EU consumer-protection law allows it. Where proceedings require representation before the courts of another country, we coordinate with vetted local lawyers.
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