Financial services licensing comparison

Compare financial licensing requirements across jurisdictions.

LicenseCompare helps you understand and compare securities, fund management, advisory, brokerage, and related licensing routes in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, the US, and Australia.

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Jurisdictions

Compare five regulatory routes

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Hong Kong

Securities and Futures Commission

SFC licensed corporation for Type 1 dealing in securities

Singapore

Monetary Authority of Singapore

MAS Capital Markets Services licence for fund management

United Kingdom

Financial Conduct Authority

FCA Part 4A authorisation for investment firms

United States

SEC / FINRA / state securities regulators

SEC investment adviser registration through IARD and Form ADV

AUS

Australia

Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Australian financial services licence for financial services business

Licence requirements

Start from the activity, then test the jurisdiction

Asset managementDiscretionary portfolio, fund, managed account, and investment management models where the firm makes or controls investment decisions.Investment advicePersonal, firm, platform, or research-led models that recommend securities, funds, portfolios, or other financial products.Brokerage/dealingExecution, arranging, introducing, order-routing, placement, brokerage, dealing, or transaction-compensation models.Fund marketingFund offers, financial promotions, private placement activity, distribution, investor introductions, and marketing material approval flows.Trading platformsMarketplaces, execution tools, automated trading features, trading venues, ATS-style models, and platform order flows.

Learn

NBFI and securities concepts without fluff

What are non-bank financial institutions?A practical primer on NBFIs, why they matter for licensing, and how investment funds, advisers, brokers, insurers, pension funds, finance companies, and market infrastructures fit into the wider system.Funds, advisers, brokers, dealers, custodians and market operatorsHow common financial services roles differ in practice, and why a single user journey can create several licensing questions.Securities, funds, derivatives and market rolesA beginner-friendly but practical guide to the product and role vocabulary behind securities licensing routes.Professional, accredited, wholesale and retail clientsWhy client classification changes licensing, conduct, disclosure, marketing, and evidence requirements across jurisdictions.Custody, client assets and safeguardingHow custody and client asset control can change licensing routes, capital expectations, audit work, and operating controls.

Popular comparisons

Hong Kong vs Singapore for fund managers SFC Type 9 vs MAS CMS licence FCA authorisation vs SEC investment adviser registration Broker-dealer vs investment adviser routes in the US

Tools

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Licence Finder

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Jurisdiction Comparison

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Application Readiness

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Timeline Estimator

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Official register monitoring

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Register links are treated as primary due diligence routes. LicenseCompare summarizes the path, then sends users to the regulator record for relevance checking.