Gain Capital, which is associated with Forex.com and City Index brands, plans to surrender its United Kingdom licence from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which it will do “in the fullness of time”.
Leaving London for Dubai
As mentioned in the latest Companies House filing, the process of surrendering the FCA licence will begin when StoneX Financial Ltd receives a Dubai operating licence. However, the timing remains “uncertain”.
FinanceMagnates.com earlier reported that the UK-registered Gain Capital already received a Category 5 licence from Dubai’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). Now, it appears that the company plans to transfer that licence to another entity.
“[Gain Capital UK] obtained a Dubai operating licence in August 2025; however, it must operate under this licence for a number of months before applying to transfer it to StoneX Financial Ltd,” the filing said.
However, StoneX clarified to FinanceMagnates.com that "the Dubai SCA license was obtained solely to support the growth of our business and client base in the Middle East region and operates alongside, not in place of our existing UK and other global licenses."
Notably, StoneX Group’s UK-regulated entity, StoneX Financial Ltd, operates FOREX.com and City Index in the UK, and "remains fully authorised and regulated by the FCA and continues to operate from London as part of our long-standing commitment to the UK market."
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A New Strategy for Forex.com
StoneX owns Gain Capital, which it bought in 2020 for $236 million to enter the retail forex and CFD trading markets. The acquisition also involved some drama, as most Gain shareholders initially opposed the deal, and an insider trading scandal later followed.
Following the acquisition, StoneX more than doubled the number of active retail accounts on its platform globally to 295,000. The platform now has more than 400,000 retail accounts worldwide.
Gain entered Dubai after the Forex.com brand launched services from its new Singapore base earlier this year.
Dubai is attracting many large and small CFD brokers. While brands such as Plus500, XTB, Deriv and RoboMarkets have received a full brokerage licence there, others, including major players like XM, have opted for a promotional Category 5 licence.
The Category 5 licence, which has become very popular, allows brokers to promote CFDs and direct clients to their non-UAE entities. However, they cannot hold client money or execute trades locally.
