Bahamas · Securities Commission of The Bahamas
Buy a Bahamas forex licence — SCB-registered CFD dealer
For acquirers building an Atlantic-Caribbean booking centre, a Bahamas-registered forex and CFD dealer puts you inside an established USD banking zone from the day you close. Cadena Brokers represents a tight book of SCB-registered dealers, pre-vetted on regulatory standing, banking continuity, and sanctions and litigation posture. Buy-side only.
Jurisdiction
Why the Bahamas
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) registers securities firms under the Securities Industry Act, 2011 and the Securities Industry Regulations, 2012. Forex and CFD activity sits inside the “dealing in capital markets instruments” registrable activity, and since the 2020 reforms CFD providers form their own category with a distinct registration fee and supervisory file.
The acquirer pitch for Nassau is concrete. USD is the working currency without a US-state money-transmitter overlay. Correspondent banking runs deep through Caribbean and US clearing partners. Contracts run on English common law that any institutional counterparty already understands. Acquirers regularly compare Bahamas against Cayman and Seychelles; Bahamas wins on banking depth, Cayman wins on prestige (and cost), Seychelles wins on speed but loses on tier-1 PSP relationships.
Scope
What the SCB registration permits
A Bahamian dealer registration runs along two routes. Dealing as Principal, the market-maker or B-book model, sits at the higher capital tier — USD 300,000 in regulatory capital under Regulation 42’s “adequate financial resources” rule. Dealing as Agent only (STP / A-book) sits at USD 120,000. Both routes can serve retail and professional clients. Both can take third-party introducing brokers. Both must hold a separate CFD registration if they intend to write Contracts for Difference; the 2020 framework brought CFDs into their own category with a dedicated registration and annual-renewal regime.
Two supervisory points often catch new buyers off guard. First, the SCB capped retail-client margin at 200:1 across all asset classes in 2020, and 20:1 on cryptocurrencies. The cap is binding. There is no professional-client carve-out comparable to ESMA’s pro framework, so a Bahamian book skews different from a Cypriot CIF book. Second, the Compliance Officer and Chief Executive Officer must be resident in The Bahamas and must pass fit-and-proper testing before SCB approval. Carving out a Bahamian-resident senior team through change-of-control is a real diligence gate, not an afterthought.
Change-of-control itself requires 30 days’ prior written notification to the SCB under Regulation 46(2), and the regulator can object. We structure the SPA so completion is conditional on SCB non-objection, rather than the buyer fronting the registration risk.
Profile
What we broker here
Every Bahamian dealer we represent has cleared three diligence gates before reaching your desk:
- Regulatory standing. Current SCB registration, no open enforcement, fees paid through the relevant renewal cycle, AML and CFT programme aligned with the Financial Transactions Reporting Act and the SCB Rule Book.
- Banking continuity. Working operating accounts at a Bahamian bank or a Caribbean correspondent, client-money segregation in place, and at least one payment-service-provider relationship that survives a change-of-control review.
- Sanctions and litigation. Clean OFAC, EU, UK and UN screening on UBOs and senior team, no pending civil or criminal matters, no negative media in the relevant trade press.
We do not name targets in marketing material. Profiles open under NDA once a brief is in.
Process
How Bahamas acquisitions run
Buy-side mandate signed, then we send a shortlist of pre-vetted profiles matching your client base, asset coverage, and banking footprint. The selected target moves to data room and operational diligence. We coordinate the SCB change-of-control notification, banking-continuity confirmations, and SPA negotiation through to closing. The full sequence is on the process page. Expedited closings are the norm for buyers who arrive with funds and a clean compliance file.
The broker
Why Cadena
- Single-side mandate. We work for the acquirer. The seller has separate representation. No mixed loyalties, no information bleed.
- Caribbean booking expertise. Roughly half our active inventory sits across BVI, Cayman, Bahamas and Saint Vincent. We know which Bahamian dealer pairs cleanly with which Caribbean correspondent bank without a 90-day onboarding gap.
- Closed-deal references. Every active mandate gets two references from prior buyers in the same jurisdiction tier. The forex-acquirer community is small; we trade on reputation.
Acquirers often ask which sibling jurisdiction we would recommend instead. See Cayman for prestige-grade institutional books, Seychelles for budget-tier speed, or BVI for a closer match on USD banking with a lighter supervisory cadence.
Common questions
Frequently asked
Can I buy an existing Bahamas forex licence?
Yes. SCB-registered dealers transfer through share acquisition of the licence-holding company, subject to a 30-day prior notification under Regulation 46(2) of the Securities Industry Regulations 2012 and SCB non-objection. The registration itself is not transferable as a standalone asset; you buy the company that holds it. Cadena handles the deal structuring and the SCB filing as part of every Bahamian mandate.
What is the cost of a Bahamas forex licence in acquisition terms?
We do not publish prices. Acquisition value depends on regulatory standing, banking depth, the in-place client book, FTE retention, and any historic enforcement. The statutory minimums are predictable — USD 120,000 in regulatory capital for an agent-only dealer, USD 300,000 for a market-maker, with a separate CFD-registration fee on top. Those are floor numbers, not the deal value. A clean SCB dealer with working Bahamian banking and a portable CFD registration trades at a multiple of the capital floor, and the multiple is what the brief negotiates.
Bahamas forex licence vs Seychelles — how should an acquirer choose?
Bahamas sits one tier above Seychelles for institutional credibility, banking depth, and PSP onboarding. The Seychelles FSA wins on speed and lower fixed costs; the Bahamas SCB wins where the buyer needs a USD-zone operating account that survives a tier-1 correspondent’s KYC. Acquirers who plan to onboard non-EEA retail through cards or e-wallets generally land in the Bahamas. The PSP shortlist for an FSA-registered Seychelles dealer is meaningfully narrower in 2026 than it was three years ago.
Bahamas vs Cayman Islands forex licence — what is the trade-off?
Cayman, under the Securities Investment Business Act and CIMA supervision, is the higher-prestige Caribbean option and carries comparable USD-banking access, but annual cost is materially higher and the change-of-control process moves slower. The Bahamas SCB is faster on closings and more permissive on retail business; CIMA has historically discouraged retail FX/CFD without a clear institutional purpose. Most of our buyers pick Bahamas for retail-facing books, Cayman for institutional-only books.
What capital does the SCB require?
Regulation 42 of the Securities Industry Regulations 2012 requires “adequate financial resources at all times”. The SCB’s practice tiers this at USD 120,000 for dealing-as-agent only (STP / A-book) and USD 300,000 for dealing as principal (B-book and market-maker). A CFD registration sits on top under the 2020 framework, with its own registration and annual renewal. We confirm a target’s current regulatory-capital position pre-completion via the audit working papers.
Next step
Open a Bahamas mandate
We work buy-side only. If you have funding and a target profile in mind — book size, asset coverage, banking footprint — send a brief. We open the conversation under NDA and turn around a shortlist within the week.
