{"id":864308,"date":"2026-06-23T09:05:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=864308"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T07:05:33","slug":"major-european-finance-company-lands-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/864308\/major-european-finance-company-lands-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Major European finance company lands in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Capital.com has received regulatory approval to start operating in South Africa, with plans to offer contracts for difference (CFDs) across more than 5,000 markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capital.com received dual regulatory approval from South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cypriot company operates a technology-led trading platform and has been authorised as an Over-the-Counter Derivatives Provider (ODP) and a Category 1 Financial Services Provider (FSP). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2016-founded company operates in several international markets, including the UK, Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Kenya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company plans to onboard clients and provide access to contracts for difference (CFDs) across more than 5,000 markets, including equities, commodities, indices, and foreign exchange. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capital.com’s licence also permits the offering of crypto CFDs under FSCA supervision. Under the Category 1 FSP licence, the company can market and promote itself as an approved FSP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will also be able to provide financial services and intermediary, non-advice services for approved financial products, such as shares, subject to FSCA requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CFD is a derivative that allows one to speculate on the price movements of global markets, such as shares, without owning the underlying asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s disclaimer states that CFD trading is highly risky and can lead to rapid losses due to leverage. Between 61% and 89% of retail investors lose money when trading with the Capital.com Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that one should consider whether they understand how CFDs work and whether they can afford the high risk of losing their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOperating under local regulatory supervision is fundamental to how we approach market entry,” said Valentina Rzheutskaya, Executive Director at Capital.com. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The FSCA approvals define the framework within which Capital.com is permitted to operate in South Africa, including the standards we must meet around governance, conduct and risk controls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company appointed Travis Robson as its CEO for South Africa, stating that he is a senior financial services executive with extensive experience building and running businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that his background includes establishing local governance structures, engaging with regulators, and overseeing regulated trading operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOperating through a regulated local entity matters because it shapes the environment in which decisions are made,” said Robson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our role is to ensure clients engage with markets within a framework that is governed, supervised and designed to prioritise clarity around risk.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the company is focused on providing market access to support informed decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competitor leaves South Africa <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Capital.com’s arrival in South Africa comes shortly after IG Group shut down its local operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IG Group is a London-based online trading provider which focuses mainly on spread betting and CFD trading. Robson previously worked for IG. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 52-year-old company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It expanded into South Africa in 2010 following the establishment of IG Markets South Africa, aiming to give South African traders access to thousands of financial markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company, however, stopped clients under its South African unit from opening new positions in late May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company had to close open positions on 28 July 2025. That said, South Africans with accounts held under the group\u2019s offshore entities could retain them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said it discontinued its domestic trading accounts denominated in rands and provided a termination statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis decision wasn\u2019t made lightly, and our priority is supporting you through a smooth transition,\u201d an email from the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has seen a rise in entries and exits by international financial companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, while banking giants HSBC and BNP Paribas announced plans to exit the South African market, new challenger bank Revolut<\/a> plans to launch a new bank in South Africa in 2028. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CFD trading platform Capital.com has received regulatory approval from the FSCA. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":864322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[25636],"class_list":["post-864308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-capital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864308"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864329,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864308\/revisions\/864329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}